Blog

I’m busy finishing up a few new paintings for First Friday Gallery Walk (October 7) at Old Town Art and Framery.  For those of you interested in seeing my painting process, I’ll be doing a live demo from 6 – 8 pm during Gallery Walk. Basically “flying by the seat of my pants” I scribble, throw, dribble and flow paint on the surface of the canvas creating a chaos of color and line. Eventually, a subject reveals itself – although the first thing to appear is not always the one with staying power. I’ve been known to paint and repaint a canvas several times before that happens! As you might have guessed, mine is not a manicured path – I prefer to take the road less travelled.

This piece is called "Cowabunga!"  An expression of surprise, joy, or enthusiasm.  The word was first used by Chief Thunderthud on the "Howdy Doody" show (1954, before my tome ;-) and was later adopted by surfers as a greeting (as in "Cowabunga, dude.")  Later on it was popularized in the 1990 cartoon, Teenage Muntant Ninja Turtles. 

I thought I might title it, "Purple Cow"but in the end, Cowabunga seemed more appropriate.

Purple Cow is the name of a well-known poem by Gelett Burgess, written in 1895:

I never saw a purple cow.
I never hope to see one.
But I can tell you anyhow
I'd rather see than be one.  

Much of my work over the summer has been experimental in nature, pushing past what I see into what I believe. My trip to Taos with my friends Carolyn and Susie provided the key to open a door in my mind. Much is written about the magic of Taos – I concur that there is a palpable energy there unlike anything I have felt before. We all felt it the day we found a little-known morada. As we walked into view of the old adobe structure with the calvery cross (the very one Georgia O’Keefe painted!) three turkey vultures circled overhead. All three of us welled up with tears, so moving and beautiful was the experience. We painted for hours, with two stray dogs being the only other visitors that day.

Later that day, we strolled through the galleries on Kit Carson Rd. I was happy to see my friend Marie Massey's colorful paintings at Walden Fine Arts, along with work by one of my favorite artists, Lance Green. And I got to see three magnificient sculptures by my buddy Chester Armstrong  at  Old World Fine Art - the three raven sculpture just blew me away.  I spent quite a bit of time visiting with Joshua Franco, an artist whose surrealist work intrigues me - not only for his compelling compositions, but for the iconoclastic nature of his imagery.  

Since returning, my paintings seem to come from somewhere deep inside; the memories of places where I felt connected to spirit percolating to the surface.

This piece started out as a plein air landscape, but once I got it home into my studio, Fox showed up with a couple of her buddies.