1:28 PM: so i got over my obsession with the HU and moved on. i worked over what i had done yesterday on this 38x20” piece of primed linen, guided only by this matisse quote: “don’t wait for inspiration. it comes while working.”
that pretty much says it all, and, today at least, freed me from any visions or goals i may have had, either related to the HU or anything else! i trust my marks and my perception of color enought to just paint! nothing my mind can come up with will ever equal the actual process of drawing or painting. if you take a look at most of the work of de kooning or matisse, you’ll see what i’m getting at.
that doesn’t mean i can make marks willy nilly and a great painting will emerge. on this one, for example, i started with a fixed, focused idea stemming from the beauty of the video accompanying the HU’s Yuve, Yuve U video, the link to which i included in yesterday’s post. but when i woke up this morning and prepared to come over to my studio, that seemed like old news, not relevant to what i’m feeling today.
matisse’s wise words were like someone opened a door & said “go for it!” you have to remain vigilant though, because the mind will always find a way of elbowing it’s way in!
so july heat, as i’ve titled it, started off with two HU musicians, one of whom is still visible with his instrument on the upper right, as is part of the instrument of the second musician, in the lower center. and then………
the inspiration began flowing as soon as i let go of my plans for representing the HU.
july heat 38x20”/96.5 x 51 cm. oil on linen
right now, looking at it on my east painting wall, it literally JUMPS off the wall. you might say “well, that’s in part due to the bright reds, which can’t really be found in the other of the seven!” ok, that’s part of it, but the biggest factor, in my opinion, is the unplanned, spontaneous immediacy of the strokes, reflecting all that i’ve said here.
my east painting wall, with the new july heat in the center surrounded by 7 recent paintings
2:41 PM: as i worked on july heat, i went back & forth, working on savoir faire, a painting i started a few years ago and has been sitting in my storage room ever since. as i was rearranging things the other day, i came across it and found it interesting enough to take it out and work more on it. it was basically gray, with a drawing in black & white, and other paintings underneath. so all the color you see happened today. it works, as you can see here, either as a vertical or a horizontal composition.
savoir faire, 15.5x29” oil on linen