TIME

 

Time is lost, saved, borrowed and often, a river.  Some times it's  stolen or of the essence.  I am finding it to be surprisingly elastic as well.

When I left the Torpedo Factory Art Center after seventeen years, I expected to do so much exploration in my home studio.  Working four days a week had limited what I could accomplish.  The remaining three days were given over to real life: groceries, appointments,  and obligations.  I longed to have hours to experiment, study and travel.

So, here I am, free as a bird. 

Possibilities are so vast, I am immobilized. 

Without the 4/3 dynamic, the days meld together.  Everything feels like a day off.   I no longer get up at 5 am to jumpstart the day. 

I am woozy with time.  I love the slow mornings.  But progress  soon drifts off to something else. There is no sense of accomplishment.

My daughter calls every Wednesday at 5:30.  She never forgets. Yesterday she didn't call.  I kept expecting the phone to ring.  Hours later I realized it was Friday, not Wednesday.

I am not complaining, just surprised.

A Visit to Studio Three

 If you have not been to the Torpedo Factory Art Center in Alexandria, Virginia, you have missed a great space.  There are 80 studios with working artists open to the public.  You can watch artists create, ask questions and perhaps find a piece you love.

This has been my perch for several years.  Studio 3 is flooded with natural light from two walls of huge windows.  My gallery is down below, featuring over thirty oil paintings.  

I would love you to visit!

Is there such a thing as too much paint?

   I am not a hoarder.  Well, not in the true sense of needing the County to intervene with shovels. But I do like my colors. When I started painting 20 years ago, I became a pastelist. Pastels are tools of intense pigment, which is a pure joy. Unfortunately, you can not mix pastels. You can stroke a glaze of one color over another but they remain distinct.  The only solution in my mind, was to own at least one of every color available.  So I do. (I worked in an art store.) 

  I  stopped painting with pastels because my teacher, Diane Tesler, said I could easily move back and forth between the two mediums.  Framing large pastels with non-relfective glass had become exorbitant.   So, I became an oil painter.  I had much difficulty using a paint brush. It felt so awkward to have something between me and the color.  With pastels, the hand is directly on the pigment.  I never was able to move between the mediums.  I had a sure touch with pastels, but now it is gone.  And I still struggle with the brush.

  One can paint beautifully with a limited palate.  Many do. There are many ways to make a color from other colors.  Yellow and black make amazing greens.  Lemon Yellow and a Mars Black makes a very different green than Cadmium Yellow and Ivory black.One color, between different manufacturers, can vary distinctly.   I remain seduced by colors.  

 Blue is my signature color. I have about 30 varieties of blues which can morph into dozens of other colors.

Maybe someone should call the County.