A Place of Peace (2014)
making across the image which would break through
imposed boundaries.
Anyway, I joined a plein air group in Arizona and
found I was petrified of both „small‟ and „how to
paint‟ on a small format – after all it had been so
many years since I had painted a specific image, and
had never done anything small (9x12, 12x16, etc).
Even in high school, other than portraiture, my work
averaged 22x28. Anyway, I bought some small paint
brushes, tiny in my mind, and unpacked old paints,
opening some tubes with pliers, cutting off the
bottoms of stuck ones, and bought a few with my son
in NY.
And I struggled, but it was a tiny struggle that
had a specific direction: small + painting landscapes.
(It is interesting to note that the non-objective
works of the 70‟s actually had a landscape format to
them. I just did not recognize it back then, but in
doing my Masters and reading Ellen Disanayake, I
realized that my imagery was landscape based). These
new works actually relate to that earlier work. It all
makes sense. The only difference is I am using the
landscape now in a more definitive way; and using
color is my new focus as opposed to the focus on
values that I had back in the early 70‟s.
Through plein air I have come to be passionate
about the landscape in a new way. While I loved its
beauty before, perhaps more from the outside, I now
see it in a more intimate way. Not like rolling in the
mud, but in a strange way with my eyes and senses. I
look for the movement in the landscape. Maybe the
need to find its movement harkens back to the
fascination with movement in my youth, or maybe it
has to do with age and knowing there is not enough
time on earth to accomplish what I would like to; but
my heart beats faster when I think of the amazing
ephemeral nature of the natural world and life. I revel
in the changes that happen in the landscape due to
light! Perhaps I have heightened my sensibilities to
the landscape, not as a scene, although I rejoice in its