People often ask me about painting, drawing, making art…The answer is rarely straightforward.
So this blog is a chance to answer a little better those questions….to open a window on the creative process as I experience it. And a way to bring in the many parallels of art with other areas of life….which is perhaps more the point.
I thought I’d start this blog now – as I’m beginning a new life in Sarasota.
I hope this might become a virtual Salon – a meeting place – where ideas, thoughts, quotes and notes…together with images of works-in-progress….all are open to your input, your questions, your ideas!
To start – would like to talk about the picture above. It’s a pastel of the bay off Norton Island, where I attended an artist residency the summer of 2010. I made this picture the first night there…had sketched the scene a few times already and did this from memory.
Getting to Norton Island, I arrived like everyone does, off the ferried ride from the mainland 10 minutes away. I climbed across massive granite rocks to reach the winding dirt path to the main cabin – a giant wooden nest – perched at the top of a steep hill. The ride across the bay was typical Down East fogginess…the island slowly revealing itself in cryptic episodes of kelp-laden boulders, varieties of pine trees.
I was so grateful to have been invited. There were already other invitees on the island. We got to know each other over a communal dinner and watched, from our perch at the central log cabin known as East Camp, the sky clear, the sun set and stars upon stars enter the night. This was followed by a bone-shatteringly loud thunderstorm. So much for an idyllic reception.
I began this card as lightening lit up my studio in a barn in the woods, rain pelted the roof, and cracks of thunder followed each other almost without stop. I began this card as a gift to the owner of the island – knowing that I wouldn’t have the words for inside of it till the last day – over 2 weeks later. Eventually, would add “Merci, mon capitaine.” “Thank you, my captain.” And he was just like that – like a captain of a vessel – which held a random collection of passengers – on a crazy, wild voyage of the kind that isolated island life is famous for. But that’s another story.
When I look at this picture, I’m transported immediately back there – island of fern and moss, crags and outcroppings – and remember how deeply that landscape is now etched on my soul. Perhaps even more than the people.
But elements of the people are in the pictures, too. Certain pieces were influenced by personalities and events. It’s all blended together.
For a slideshow of work from Norton Island, you can visit:
Norton Island paintings and drawings.
