16 + 17: Like a big hug

Detail...
how I left things last night...
Second round...
First round...
The globe...
I went to Thomas Van Aukens great show at The Eric Schindler Gallery on Friday night. It is so refreshing to see an art show and feel that the painter has a relationship with, paint. It made me feel at home. It was all there, strong drawing and composition, skillful use of color and psychological tension. But what I love is, how clearly he set out problems for himself and explored them. Good job!

A friend was in town from NY. It was great to catch up with my old friend. But even more it was great to speak: New York. Blunt, loud and all of us yapping at the same time! It was the good kind of family reunion.

I also reconnected with an old friend from Detroit. I tracked her down via myspace. It has been over 10 years since we last spoke. But it felt like yesterday. All this familiarity is making me feel grounded...home.

This stability provided a solid platform for me to jump into the studio and work. I made progress on the globe. The cold weather is slowing the drying time of the paint. My NY studio/apt.'s steam heating was always on and always too hot. The paint would dry within hours. This dictated thin layered application.

Like the Ash Can School of painters, who put their work out on fire escapes in the winter, to slow drying time. Wet on wet thicker work will be the result, of the lack of heat in my new studio. I am loving it! Slippery, wet, glorious paint!

14 +15 went up on the clothes line, and 16 +17 burst onto the canvas. No surprise about the color of the new work, Fall. All the color that surrounds me. All that is around me, like a big hug.