Month: January 2025

Vision in motion, an exercise

Never waste money on purchasing a tube of black paint, I was told.

With three or four colors you can mix a pigment as dark as black. And a richer shade of pigment. Is black even a color?

These thoughts remind me of color theory and composition class at the university. My professor was a student of Josef Albers. At the time, that fact did not have a great impression on me. But I wonder about the lessons he must have learned. Not so much the academic rigor of craftsmanship and applied fine arts. That is important. But lessons of integrity and legacy. Was it Albers who taught him that quip about black paint? Or did that come from Willem de Kooning?

A couple days later, the middle child looks at this project. “What’s this about?”

I do not answer. It is an exercise. It is practice.

Vision in motion, paint big

This is practice. An exercise. Form and color.

Do you see a character? As in, a letter of the alphabet.

Or do you see a character in human form?

The daylight quickly fades for this January afternoon. I chose a larger brush to apply pigment. At the university, the art professor instructed, “If you can’t paint well, paint big.”

It was not criticism, but rather a modernist declaration. He provided an atmosphere that allowed guidance rather than dogma.

I load the larger brush with the muddy water from the tray and a touch of pigment found between two watercolor cakes. The transparent layer is applied to the dry paint. A technique called glazing.

This is not an art lesson. It is a conjuring up of an image.

Vision in motion, layer upon layer

This is an exercise. Form and color. Loading the brush with pigment and applying it to the paper. Quick strokes. Vision in motion.

Painting by the light of the apartment’s living room window. The sun light is best in the morning. But I have continued this project well past the noon hour.

“Why do you keep painting,” asks my child.

“It’s underpainting,” I say as I clean the brushes and prepare for an afternoon walk. “The lighter tones provide the base. When the paint dries I add more color layers.”

It is January. It is Winter. The outdoor temperature is above the freezing point. We walk to the library and return books. We continue to talk.

Vision in motion

Trying something new. Or, rather, returning to something old.

Here is a first draft for consideration.

Will provide details as updates are available. Let’s see how this turns out.