Week 9: Day - To - Day Painting Rings/Wholeness

I don't have stylistic loyalty. That's why people perceive me changing all the time. But there is a real continuity in my subject matter. As an artist of artifice, I do believe I have more integrity than any one of my contemporaries. David Bowie

Ha ha I'm leading with David Bowie! The exploration of rings begun last week continued for a long time, but as you will see there was a lot of exploration of what the "ring" form looked like, and how it was positioned. Some paintings contain multiple rings, enabling me to explore a relationship between rings. Other paintings have a singular ring, these tend to transform the ring into an icon, The rings sometimes float on a surface and are sometimes integrated into the background. I am presenting 4 images today because while the ring shape continue to provide a focus to the daily paintings for many days, there is a stylistic break in what comes after these 4. Each of these is painted on canvas, all measure 6 x 6". Canvas has more tooth than paper, I was able to cut lines into the paint to define the shape and when I scraped pigment down the texture of the canvas became visible. You will perhaps recall how sometimes the paint in the pieces done on paper looked like water color or stain. Now the texture of the canvas becomes another element in the picrture. The first image is from 8/22/19. Looking at this piece it almost seems to be a painting of an object in a landscape with a sun rising to lighten (and dispel) the darkness. ​The line created by cutting into the paint with the edge of the palette knife adds an element of drawing to the composition of the piece and is as important as the very obvious light and shadow at play in this canvas.

To drop into being means to recognize your interconnectedness with all life, and with being itself. Your very nature is being part of larger and larger spheres of wholeness. Jon Kabat-Zinn

As I have mentioned many times, I have a daily spiritual practice of meditation by which I directly experience the interconnectedness between all beings and truly everything around me. I have a sense of an ultimate truth which is accessible if we are open to its discovery. For me, the act of painting from this place of intentionality, results in the diminishment of the ego, rather than the glorification of the ego, Painting is a way of exploring this interconnectedness, and develops from a sense of awe. The physical painting is the external expression of the process of reaching towards a state of ego diminishment. The act of painting is a dialogue; the surface, the marks and colors stimulate a reaction. In these paintings, the exploration of this ring form, arises from this process of painting. When I am working, I have not consciously attached any meaning or narrative to these images. Meaning is discovered in the viewing of the work as a whole. Often people ask me if I use painting to somehow resolve emotional upheavel. My response is "not usually." The note I have from this day indicates that it was difficult to keep my mind and heart in the light on the day I created this painting. I see no evidence of that struggle here ​. I do see two glowing ring forms and wonder if one is the child of the other, The background rises up behind them, seemingly about to enfold them.

We live in a fractured world. I've always seen it as my role as an artist to attempt to make wholeness. Anish Kapoor

There is a shift here between this painting and the previous two. These rings are transitioning from what might be a jeweled bangle to a natural form, they seem to be like lily pads. When viewed from the bottom of the canvas, these seem to be floating along but then the background rises up behind them. The light seems to emenate from the rings themselves.

Here we have what appears to be a close up,. Additional organic forms appear, The palette remains consistent with the previous painting. What fun!

This blog post will be my last for 2019. I wish you many adventures in 2020, peace and wholeness!