Despite (or maybe because of) everything happening in the big world, my small world has felt like a sanctuary this month – I’m currently working on a series of paintings on board and paper with the working title: “Spring Cannot be Cancelled”, a series of partly abstracted still life paintings of plants & flowers from…
Category: writing
Things to Think
Things to Think Think in ways you’ve never thought beforeIf the phone rings, think of it as carrying a messageLarger than anything you’ve ever heard,Vaster than a hundred lines of Yeats. Think that someone may bring a bear to your door,Maybe wounded and deranged: or think that a mooseHas risen out of the lake, and…
Beauty is the ultimate form of protest
“The purpose of art is the gradual, lifelong construction of a state of wonder and serenity.” — Glenn Gould
A letter for Moran
«There is nothing more to tell. The house was empty. The company had cut off the light. They have offered to let me have it back. But I told them they could keep it.» —Samuel Beckett: Molloy
From representational drawing to invented worlds
My recent shift from drawing to painting has not only led to a shift in form, but also, as it turns out, a shift in content. When painting, my focus is no longer on the observed outer world, as it is when I am doing urban sketching, croquis or floral studies. When painting my focus…
A story about immersion and subtraction
or: What I gleaned from spending 5 wonderful days painting under the supervision of Liz Hough at St. Ives School of Painting, a visual report: Becoming nature — The first step has to do with immersing oneself into what is already there; walk around, sit down, feel the wind, notice the short glimpses of bright…
The true alchemists do not change lead into gold; they change the world into words
So much of philosophy is fiction. The William H Gass Reader (2019) William H. Gass was born in Fargo, North Dakota. He is the author of seven works of fiction, nine books of essays, and a book of conversations. Gass was a professor of philosophy at Washington University. For most of his life he lived…
Just when I thought I was finished reading theory …
… my desk is once again filled with philosophical texts. It might be hard to find a common theme in the stack of books in front of me, but I guess they all in some sense could fit on a shelf labelled “philosophy of life” – or maybe: getting old (with grace) is the least…
Darkness at Noon
Noon Hour BY PEGGY TROJAN Unless hot lunch at schoolwas serving something speciallike corn chowderand baking powder biscuitsor creamed chipped beefpotatoes and browniesI went hometo what mymother madelike most town kids Jack walked the furthestalmost to the riverto his unpainted houseby the railroad tracksWe all knew nobody was therehis mom at the tavern alreadyHe always…
True family
Second post on Thomas Moore’s Care of the Soul: The sentimental image of family that we present publicly is a defense against the pain of proclaiming the family for what it is—a sometimes comforting, sometimes devastating house of life and memory. (Care of the Soul: 26) Just a few months ago my uncle, age 70,…
sub rosa 