Saturday, January 16, 2016

Day 16: Very Much Like You


"Very Much Like You" - 6" x 6", acrylic on canvas panel.



Today I was thinking of wind direction and lost edges. I forgot to mention where my titles come from. I have a copy of Billy Collins' "Ballistics" on my studio table, and honestly I flipped through jotting down words and phrases that resonated for one reason or another. And I have been cherry-picking from that list through the project. But his poetry is rollicking and wonderful, as evidenced here and here and, well, far too many to link to.

Information about this project is here. And here's a look at the past 4 days in a little collage:


It's confession time. I have been relying on my memory of this one moment of this one place in this one particular lighting situation on one particular afternoon a month or two ago. And the more I paint it, the more my memory is of the paintings rather than of the moment I'm trying to capture. So, as I told my friend Jackie, I thought it might be a good idea to revisit the source for a little refresher. I drove back to the clump of pines at the approximately correct time of day, etc., but no dice. It couldn't be that place because there is no break in the trees across the street. Those pine trees get either full sun or no sun in the afternoon. Must be the next group of trees up the road a little further. No, not those either. Surely the next group. Nope. And on and on this nonsense continues until I had driven 15 miles staring at roadside treetops. What is going on here? Is it the Alzheimer's starting already? Back to the drawing board...

...here are my detailed, high quality *cough* plans for the next half of the challenge. I'm thinking of shifting the perspective, raising and lowering the horizon, reversing my light source, adding some collage elements, or making a Notan. 14 days to go!

If you're a new visitor, I also have a fine art website and a Facebook page.

6 comments:

  1. I'm loving everything about this project—30 interpretations of one scene; the differences in interpretation (today's wind is blowing back my hair, I tell ya!; the source of your titles (thank you so much for thinking to reveal that detail); the difference between photograph and memory; your plans for upcoming days of painting; and your faithfulness in painting every day. Three cheers, I say: hip hip hooray! hip hip hooray! hip hip hooray!

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    1. Thanks so much, Dotty! My kids fell asleep early last night, and I had time and energy to write up a little something.

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  2. Summer! I loved reading your post. WOW, I need to do that... find some inspiration for titles ahead of time. And I love the story of your, unproductive drive. You were looking too hard for it I bet. Impressed again, that you make plans... and have titles! Wow!

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    1. Thanks, Sheila: "looking too hard" is a much nicer way to describe "losing my marbles"! Hahaa!

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