January 4, 2018

Bitter cold. For a while there was snow, but the sky through my study window is blue. I have a much painting and framing to do, but there’s no point going to the studio when it’s this cold. I wouldn’t be able to work more than a few minutes. Wrote an artist’s statement for the show:

NIGHT WINGS: artist’s statement

When I decided to start painting, I had been a professional writer for many years. I’d learned the craft of writing the usual way, through workshops and long practice and eventually a Ph.D. I wanted painting to be different. I wanted my painting to be spontaneous and innocent, as my writing had been careful and studied, every word taking into account a long and various tradition. I was not going to do the same thing standing in front of an easel as I did with my fingers poised over a keyboard. I bought some paints at a craft store and started  in. I copied Otto Dix and Dominico Veneziano, because I had books with their work in them. I watched my friends who were artists at work, and listened when they talked about technique. I suppose I’m officially “self-taught,” but what I think of are the many who taught me without knowing they were doing so. 
The pieces in Night Wings are often technical experiments. I have used for support, in addition to canvas,  plywood, drywall, scrap wood, used canvases and panels left in the Phil Mechanic by departing colleagues, sections of torn-apart furniture. Many of the works have collage elements or texture achieved by sand, acrylic medium (painted over in oil), onion bags, art paper, T-shirts, and in two cases, choir robes absconded with when the Cathedral of All Souls got new ones. Look for the button holes still on the paintings.  
I have no idea what to say about the “themes” or meanings of the paintings. I am a very literary person, so narrative is never far from my artistic sensibilities. I noted at one point that though you cannot write a sentence without your brain being fully engaged, you can paint for hours without having had a single retrievable thought in your head. This is a very great blessing. This is also to say that though anyone would name me a “symbolic” painter, the symbolism is not necessarily communicable, except through the painting. Several works address themes from the bible or mythology, but beyond that, you’re on your own. During most of the time represented by this show, I was (apparently) obsessed with birds. I don’t remember intending this, but, when I opened my eyes, there they were, flocks of birds all perfectly identifiable from any field guide. I am happy to let them speak to me through time. 

Flocks of birds in my yard, robins and starlings mostly. Realized my pond and its pump may be the only source of liquid water in a mile.