June 29, 2022 — A new composition and new art insight. That’s always a B+ day at minimum. Added to that I stole out at 5:30 and went to the lake for an hour and a half. Swimming and laying in the sun. So nice. My little private rock spot was empty, so that was an extra. I do miss my sister, however, who sold her house and moved to Oregon a couple months ago, especially when I go to this spot. She’s the one who found it and we would always meet there when we met at the lake.
It’s actually down a little cliff where there is flat rock at water’s edge. You drop your gear from the top and then swim around to it. But the groups of people not far across the inlet where there is a small beach can see you, so you don’t get the creeps for being too isolated and encountering a weirdo.
Although that did happen today as I was leaving. What is isolated, is the trail in and out of there. But it’s short so I just hoofed it. I couldn’t hear a thing the guy was saying to me, anyway (a non-art insight driving home was to learn sign language, haha, that would frost them!). I did say hi and put on a friendly mission-driven countenance when I came up from the water and steered quickly toward the trail. And after that, what I could hear, he’s asking me if I live in Redding? Like this is your business? It’s sad he was not just enjoying his solitude. I think it’s tough for guys to meet a girl.
It drives me crazy that in the year 2022, in a place as progressive as the US (okay, there are problems with that word lately lol), I feel afraid when I’m alone in the woods. The alternative is going to the bigger beaches but there is so much radio blaring it’s like I’m in someone’s dorm room, or competing dorm rooms. And there’s usually quite a bit of trash. V and I filled half a big bag last time we were there. Even here, today there were beer cans which I put in my satchel. Must remember to bring a plastic bag every time.
Finally, the new composition and new art insight…
Hah, so getting to the point regarding then new composition and new art insight: I got my next painting underpainted and full composed today! Really stoked that I’ll be ready for “first paint” tomorrow. It’s a 30 x 40 inch piece from the redwoods that I visited last summer with D.H. Super excited about it. The underpaint set such a mood already.
The art insight came from talking to Highland Art Center today. They were preparing my bio in prep for the show opening on Friday. I asked how many paintings they didn’t hang (I had brought four extra) and the answer was only one, Enchanted Forest. The hunch I’ve had, which suddenly feels rock solid as an insight, is that primary lines don’t work when they veer slightly off the horizon or the vertical.
For example, in two paintings I have noticed, not at the studio when I am creating them, and not when I look at a photo of them, but when I hang them on a WALL, the slight off-ness of the line bugs me. In the Lyle Lake painting, it would’ve been so much better if the far line of the lake was horizontal rather than on a 5 degree tilt. And in Enchanted Forest, it’s similar. The primary line of the biggest tree is tilted about 5 degrees off vertical (the trees are leaning). And it throws you off. Not sure if either of these could be fixed retroactively, I’ll check it out, but I think not. Pretty sure the paint is too thick to effectively paint over.
