A Tale Worth Telling

A Tale Worth Telling

A Tale Worth Telling
oil on Yupo
11 x 18.75 inches (plus a border for framing)
This piece is unmounted and unframed.

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Face it. Curiosity
will not cause us to die--
only lack of it will.
Never to want to see
the other side of the hill
or that improbable country
where living is an idyll
(although a probable hell)
would kill us all.

Only the curious have, if they live, a tale
worth telling at all.- ALASTAIR REID

The other side of the hill. 

It is the elusive thing artists and writers set their sights on every darn day. The next sketch. The painting that stretches our skills. The chapter (or paragraph or sentence) that we reach for - just out of sight but we know (we know!) it is there.

It's the same when Malcolm and I hike, whether it is in the mountains, through the gorge, along the coast - what's over that hill? Around that bend? Beyond the cove? I can't tell you how many times we've discovered things we never thought to see (sea lions, otters, shipwrecks, caves, burn forests, old stoves) by going just a little further.

But I haven't always been this way.

I spent many years staying in my lane, not wandering, not adventuring, stifling my curiosity because of outside pressures and inside fears. The anxiety of the unknown can be crippling! But not now, not here. I want to have the most incredible tale to tell when all is said and done.

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About the art: beginning with a piece of Yupo covered in white gesso, I lightly drew the figure with a small brush and thinned oil paint. I painting a light wash on the background to isolate the figure in the space, then some drying time. Coming in with darks I delineated the helmet, neck area and the basic figure shape. I used a small rubber wedge to carve back through the paint on the neck to expose the white underlayer and create "wires". A wash of golden yellow for the helmet and body, then blues and teals for the "glass" of the helmet faceplate. After more drying, small crushes and all of the tiny details over many, many layers. Finally, more washes of color to create and atmospheric background, then one more go with the small wedge to carve more "wires" around the helmet. This curious bot makes me smile. There is hope in that architectural visage. :)

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