Chaco

I joined a group of friends and went to some ancient sites in northern New Mexico this past weekend.  We visited El Morro - also known as Inscription Rock and El Malpais - an area to see ancient lava flows from the now extinct volcano we call Mt. Taylor.  But most of all we went to see Chaco Canyon.  It's an area of ancient ruins left by the people we call the Anasazi but are now referred to as the Chacoan people.  It's pretty much in the middle of nowhere - 20+ miles on a bumpy dirt road keeps the faint of heart (or vehicle) away so you really get a sense of isolation and feeling that things are relatively untouched by modern standards.

The building are all stacked stone - astonishing masonry skills which in some cases are still standing and relatively intact after over 1000 years.  A friend calls this place the "Machu Pichu" of the north.  After being there I think he's right.  It's a complex and extensive system of structures and roads which at it's peak they estimate supported 8000 people.

If you've never gone - you should.  It's worth the hassle to get there.  Here is a link to learn more: Chaco Culture.  Also, here are a few pictures I took --

The Naturalist

"The Naturalist", 48"x36", acrylic on canvas

"The Naturalist" is finished - here it is.

Lately I've been toying with the image of a disassembled clock as you can see here.  For me it can symbolize a time before our modern preoccupation with time, deadlines, etc. or in this case perhaps the clock is being assembled and symbolizes the beginning of a new era - The Age of Discovery when naturalists and other types of explorers were coming to the "New World" and bringing with them their values and technologies regarding resources, time and the natural world.

Almost finished

It's nearly finished in this photograph - actually it's completely done but I won't post the final image until it's professionally photographed.  But, until then here it is in a close to finished state.  The challenge left at this point was to figure out what would be on the pages of the book...  Stay tuned a picture of the completed painting will be posted in a couple weeks or so.

Painting this incredibly abundant bunch of bananas brought up a word most of us don't know or ever use - fecund.  It's a very descriptive word and one which I hope will inspire some new paintings...

fe·cund

   [fee-kuhnd, -kuhnd, fek-uhnd, -uhnd]  Show IPA

adjective

1.

producing or capable of producing offspring, fruit,vegetation, etc., in abundance; prolific; fruitful: fecund parents; fecund farmland.

2.

very productive or creative intellectually: the fecund       years of the Italian Renaissance.

It Looks Like Progress But...

...sometimes it's an amazingly tedious process of adding something, taking it away, adding it again, and so on, etc.  This is particularly true of the background space, specifically the sky.  I've been working on this section alone for a few days, continuously tweaking the color and light until I feel it's right.  Then, I'll start to approach the objects in the foreground which will in turn cause me to have to make changes to the sky!  It's an endless back and forth - once that dance feels complete then I know the painting is done.

Slowly taking shape --

Bananas!! (actually plantains).  I'm basing the bunch of plantains on a photograph I took when I lived in New Orleans in the mid 1990's.  While driving down the street one day I saw that someone had cut off this enormous bunch of green plantains and placed it on the sidewalk to be picked up with the trash.  I found it beautiful and extremely exotic so I took it back to my studio, hung it from the ceiling and photographed it.  I did a couple paintings using this image back then and am happy to be revisiting it now, about 15 years later.

A New Painting Begins...

Some combination of these elements will soon come together in a new painting.  I'll keep you posted...

St. Regis, Monarch Beach, CA

Last week Mark & I took a vacation to Laguna Beach, CA.  It was a great trip;  perfect weather, time on the beach, sleeping late - all the fun vacation stuff.  Because we were so close by we decided to drive a few miles down the coast to the St. Regis Monarch Beach Resort.  About 10 years ago the hotel commissioned me to do two large paintings for the lobby, one is behind the reception desk - it about 3-1/2' high x 14' wide.  The other is directly across the lobby and is behind the concierge desk.  I was able to finally see them in place - 10 years later!  They look FABULOUS!!  Unfortunately only one shot came out OK - here's the painting behind the reception desk -