'My Mother's Quilt"

Yesterday, I sat down and got some business done. I photographed four paintings from my 'Nostalgia' series and sent them to my web designer. They should be on my site very soon.

'My Mother's Quilt', is an ironic title as my mother never left me any quilts. She died when I was young so I never knew her. I wasn't consciously thinking of any particular subject when I painted it. I was responding to the marks I was making and enjoying the effect of the feathery white. It's red, white, and blue so it reminds me of a flag, an association I don't really enjoy. So, instead, I chose to tie it to warmth and affection of a maternal caress.

Music camp.

A few photos and some quick drawings in my notebook that I carry with me always, are the extent of my artistic activity these days. I bought a book on illustrated letters from the Smithsonian archives of America Art, "More than Words". I was struck by the simplicity of the line drawings by Walt Kuhn, Betty Parsons, etc.

For the past few years, I have been trying to see and draw planes with little success, I have felt. I enjoyed just whipping these little drawings out last night, with a minimum of fussiness. I will continue to try to see planes. I know that I wasn't always successful with my drawings but kept at it anyway and now I feel a little (sometimes a lot) of progress. What I need to do now is just paint, paint, paint and just put each one away without even looking at it until I get some automatic muscle memory going. Minimum of fussiness is always the key for this somewhat lazy artist.

Coming home.

I went to Rutie V's drawing session today. It felt good to be holding a pencil in hand. I have to build up my stamina again. A couple of hours of scribbling, and I could hardly stand up.

I spent a few years getting comfy with drawing and it is time for me to get more practice with color. I felt like I rushed into becoming a showing artist a little too fast and now am spending time enjoying learning my trade without self-imposed pressure to produce. Though someone may need to eventually tell me to GET ON WITH IT ALREADY.

We have one more month until the end of the summer. It may seem like too short a time for my son, who is loathe to give up his freedom, but it seems like forever for someone like me. I do not juggle tasks well. I am enjoying my time with my family and our travels across the west to Colorado.

The sky over the prairies in Colorado and Wyoming really give you an idea of the infiniteness of space. These are the scenes that I grew up with and which inform my artistic sensibility.

An artist that I admire got me thinking about clouds in a way that I had not bothered with before. The plan is to commit some of these visions to paper in the very near future. Hopefully this will whet my appetite for creation and yours for seeing them in the future. Tomorrow, however, I will be hiking at Mt. Baker.