abstract paintings

an uncertain hour

an uncertain hour oil, dry pigment, on linen on canvas, 9" by 12", 2016. 


Summer is nearing its end as the days grow shorter, shadows longer, this sense of fleeting sun heightened as the last vestiges of Hermine wrap the coast in rain, wind and clouds for several days. In contrast, the rhythm of the house has changed with the start of the new school year, an extra bustle of activity, energy, and excitement. September always feels like the start of a new year, a chance for new beginnings. Our local college town shakes off the sleepy laziness of summer as the students return while back in the studio with new projects, goals, deadlines, and resolutions an eagerness and restlessness to begin anew take hold.

Late Summer Notes 2016

blue ruin

blue ruin, oil, collage, indigo, mixed media on canvas, 36" by 60", 2014. 


This painting came out of another older painting dating back at least ten years that lingered in the back of the studio, surviving several moves only to be removed from its stretcher and cut up. The first iteration consisted of many layers of paper collage and oil paint on canvas, the cut up fragments were then glued and stapled over another painted canvas that was further worked over with washes of oil paint and indigo pigment until blue ruin emerged. The blue of autumn skies, nomadic traditions and glowing screens.

"95 Theses on Painting" by Molly Zuckerman-Hartung


I found an excerpt & link to Mary Zuckerman-Hartung's 95 Theses at the great TwoCoatsofPaint last week and have found myself carrying fragments of the text around in my pocket since reading & notating. The whole of the list resonates with many things I have been thinking about my own painting practice and with quotes and excerpts form various writers and poets that articulate a similar idea. Here is one example , I will post more fragments soon.

excerpt from "The 95 Theses on Painting" by Molly Zuckerman-Hartung  
Here is a link to the entire document.