Friday December 28, 2012 A GLANCE AT THE YEAR THAT IS ENDING

This is the view from my back court.  Taos Mountain, the Mother Mountain, Sacred Mountain overlooking Taos Valley, has disappeared behind the clouds.  Snow has transformed the view.  Three days after Christmas.  I put birdseed out to feed the birds in the neighborhood.  But they are fickle and often find better things to eat.

Near the end of "time"

(Minute, hour, day, month, year)

Sands run quickly
Through the glass

Today, December 28

Very close to the end

Of the year 2012

And what did you do this year

Might be asked

I saw time slip pass me slowly
(Or so I thought)

I worked everyday

In the studio

Completed a series based on still life

Deconstructed/Reconstructed

A new image of still life

In early spring I began the task of organizing my life's work

My sister Maggie came to New Mexico to help with the work.

I returned to a body of work based on collage

I find as I start a series I have one idea

And soon I begin to think, 

"What If?"

Hopefully this will be the beginning of a new series

Of drawings

(So far this is the only one I have accomplished

But I am hoping in the new year

I will find the time to explore this idea further)

This is a painting based on a nine piece grid

This is a painting based on a four piece grid

When I first came to New Mexico

My work was grids based on the square

I thought that wouldn't work here

After working in New Mexico for 18 years

I realized I could use the grid based on the square

By adjusting the color to include what I know

Of New Mexico

I am now working on a series

Of paintings based on

Geometry and change

This is the first piece

With circles

I found circles

Very difficult to paint

Again I ask myself

What if?

What if?

What if?

What if?

Because of the visual change that happens 

With this composition

When one focus their eyes 

On one part of the painting

We realize 

What we see 

Seems to change

I will be working with it for a while

I think it may be a new form of 

Colorfield

I end this year

With the sands running quickly

Through the hourglass

Never enough time

And I will begin the new year

The same way

Saturday December 23, 2012

Fragments G&C #139  30"x30"  gouache on w/c paper

Fragments of Christmas past...bits and pieces of memory.  May this year be your very best Christmas!

Friday December 14, 2012 Fragments G&C #138

Fragments G&C  #138  30"x30"  gouache on w/c paper

Fragments G&C Series could be thought of a new form of colorfield.  Of course it is pattern based on geometry.  As you focus on one part of the piece, you become aware of the visual difference throughout the work.

December 6, 2012

Fragments G&C  #137  30"x30"  gouache on w/c paper

Fragments G&C #133  30"x30"  gouache on w/c paper

Fragments G&C  #134  30"x30"  gouache on w/c paper

Fragments G&C #135   30"x30"  gouache on w/c paper

Fragments G&C#136   30"x30"  gouache on w/c paper

This series of work I am calling Fragments G&C, they are made up of small pieces.  Their arrangement is based on geometry and within each piece is graduation or change.  They almost look like a new kind of color field, I never know when I begin what will happen exactly, I allow the change, whether it is color, temperature, value, or intensity.  In some of the works the change happens up and down, in #134 it is from the lower corner to the upper right corner and back again.  And in some of the works the change comes from each side, as in #136. 

Sunday November 18, 2012 Geoform.net

Geoform is an online scholarly resource and curatorial project whose focus is the use of geometric form and structure in contemporary abstract art being made by artists from around the world.

Geoform explores, documents and celebrates the rich diversity of style and aesthetic intent that characterizes this broad vein of contemporary non-objective abstraction. Such diversity attests to the profound resonance that geometric form and structure have had for people across time and place.

Geoform is edited by Julie Karabenick (karabenick-art.net). It has been online since May, 2005.

I want to thank Julie for including my work on the Groform site.  I hope you will go and see, it is a beautiful site!

Monday November 12, 2012

Fragments III #130  30"x30"  gouache on w/c paper

Fragments III #131  30"x30"  gouache on w/c paper

In Fragments III #130 I am working with a graduation of green and of red to orange.  I am reminded of many mountains, like the Sandia de Christo of New Mexico, washed in the color of the sunset, as only in New Mexico, land of enchantment.  And in Fragments III #131, the composition is interesting to me.  There are color changes and value changes through out the work.  There appears to be changes in the patterns, from small to large, because of these changes.  It is funny when we work, we may have one thing in mind, and something else happens, just like life.

I am again working at the editing of the series of my work.  I think the whole will be stronger because of the editing.  But the question of what to keep and what to let go?  Sometimes it is difficult, I see a work and I remember, what was overcome to complete the work, it may not be the strongest, and yet it is "dear."  I try to be merciless in my decisions, though it breaks my heart to let "my children go, to know they will not go on, will not live."  It seems each piece was "a trial by fire."

November 4, 2012 Sunday

Fragments III #127  30"x30"  gouache on w/c paper

Fragments III #128  30"x30"  gouache on w/c paper

Fragments III #129  30"x30"  gouache on w/c paper

October 27, 2012 Fragments

Fragments III #124  30"x30"  gouache on w/c paper

This piece is my first attempt to work with the circle.  If you look carefully the circles at the top are a dark yellow and as they move to the bottom they get lighter.  The circles from the bottom are a dark blue-green and move to the top as a light blue-green.  They are separated by diamonds which begin on the right hand side as red-purple and as they move to the left they become a light purple.

The diamonds on the left side are a bright red and as they move to the right they become a bright red-orange.

For me each piece is a" what if?"

Friday October 19, 2012 Fragments III

Fragments III #124  22"x22"  gouache on w/'c paper

Fragments III #125  30"x30"  gouache on w/c paper

In the Fragments #124  the scale of the grid is one half inch.  I wanted to try using grey mixed with black and white, and a grey mixed with red, blue and green.  I have hoped the viewer would be able to see a difference, but I don't think it works as I had hoped.  I think the difference is too subtle.  The area I call the "tipping point" just looks blurred.  I will try again.  My goal is that one grey will be warm and the other will be cool. 

 In the second work, Fragments III #125, the size is 30"x30", and the scale of the grid is one inch.  So far I think this is the most successful so far.  I mixed a dark blue, with purple and the red is a cool red, with yellow added.  As you look at the work, from the top,When get to the "tipping point" it is most beautiful as the blue becomes the darker, and the red becomes yellow.  I think one reason this works is because, when you look at the work, you are aware something is happening.

Fragments III #121  26"x26"  gouache on w/c paper 

Fragments III #123  26"x26"  gouache on w/c paper

Twenty years ago, my work was about grids, made of the squares. I was using the square as metaphor for the urban experience.  When I moved to Taos, it seeed the square was just too strong, too much "man over nature."  And at last, I added the diagonal line, and it seemed to work for me.  Now after all this time, I am able to return to the grid made of squares, by working with the colors of New Mexico.  The first grid is based on the two inch square, and the second one is based on the one inch square.  In my mind the second works best, just thought I would share and get your opinion.  In the second one you can see the clear light of the New Mexico sky, the red you see in the red rock country, and the light of the early morning, as the sun rises above Taos Mountain.

October 4, 2012 NOWWOW Project II

Exhibition Opens October 13,  Hudson Gallery, 5645 North Main Street, Sylvania, OH 43560  19-885-8381  info@hudsongallery.net  www.hudsongallery.net

Fragments Four #115  16"X16"  gouache on w/c paper

Fragments Four #116  15"x15"  gouache on w/c paper

Fragments Four #117  15"x15"  gouache on w/c paper

It is Fall Arts Festival in Taos, New Mexico.  All is ART!  

September 24, 2012 New Works

Fragments Four # 106  30"x30"  gouache on w/c paper

Fragments Four #106  30"x30"  gouache on w/c paper

Fragments Four #109  30"x30"  gouache on w/c paper

Fragments Four #110  30"x30"  gouache on w/c paper

Fragments Four #107  30"x30"  gouache on w/c paper

Fragments Series

The image is dictated by the concept behind the work.   If the concept is worthy the artist has the responsibility to find a personal way to communicate it and the energy to complete the project.

These works are a way to make the experience of the world visible.  Memory or thought never seems to come as a whole, but rather in bits, or fragments.  This series suggests a different way of viewing the world and aren’t meant to dictate what the viewer should think, but allows the viewer a place to think.

This series begins with the creation of the collage.   The shapes of cut and pasted colored paper arranged randomly are meaningless.  They don’t refer to the material world; instead they serve important functions in the compositions.  Sometimes the shapes appear to be retreating -- at other times, they are pushing, shoving, and vying for their own space.   In the finished work the viewer is confronted with a vision of the world that is literally constructed and interpreted from the physical context of life.

The collages once created are an inspiration for painting.  The works have limitless possibilities.   This allows for the simultaneous exploration of the mysterious spaces of inside and outside, figuration and abstraction, past and present, two and three-dimensional space. 

September 15, 2012 Fragments Four

Fragments Four 30"x30"  gouache on w/c paper

Fragments Four #101  30"x30"  gouache on w/c paper

Fragments Four #102  30"x30"  gouache on w/c paper

Fragments Four #103  30"x30"  gouache on w/c paper

Fragments Four #104  30"x30"  gouache on w/c paper

Fragments Series

For me, it is the concept behind the work that dictates the image I create.  As Anne Truitt says, “A concept of any importance seems to carry with it the responsibility of inventing methods for its actualization, and the energy to do so.”

The concept of Fragments seems to be a way to make visible how I experience the world; memory, or thought.  Which never seems to be as a whole, but rather in bits, or fragments.  I want to have the sense that the image I create is new; that I have not seen it before.  It is my intention to give the viewer a different way of viewing the world.  I do not want the images to dictate to the viewer what he should think, but allows the viewer a place to think.

I am creating compositions based on collages I have made.  The shapes themselves are meaningless, but in the compositions they serve important functions.  Sometimes they appear to be retreating; sometimes they are pushing, shoving, and vying for their own space. 

The basic principle of the use of cut and pasted colored paper arranged in juxtaposition that forms the foundation for an art of limitless associative possibilities.  This process allows me to explore simultaneously the mysterious spaces of inside and outside, figuration and abstraction, past and present, two and three-dimensional space. 

In the finished work the viewer is confronted with a vision of the world that is literally constructed and interpreted from the physical context of my life and is a basis for a collective experience.  We see it together again, for the first time.

Friday August 24, 2012 Fragments Nine

Fragments None #104  30"x30"  gouache on w/c paper

Fragments Nine #106  30"x30" gouache on w/c paper

Fragments Nine #107  30"x30"  gouache on w/c paper

Fragments Nine #105  30"x30" gouache on w/c paper

I continue to create paintings based on collage and on the grid.  For me when I create a new work, I need to create a context for the work by creating a number of paintings in the same manner.  In this way I am able to judge the work.