Just Do Things

​"Nude on Blue Ground, With Hounds" - acrylic on canvas, 24" x 18".  Inquiries: [email protected]

The second of two pieces skewing the masters - this one, a Diebenkorn.  This challenge is so much fun....I wonder if it could be a 30 in 30 prompt?  Hmmmmmm.

A breezy, coolish day (80 degrees).  Perfect weather to sit on the back porch, read Clear Seeing Place and watch the wildlife.  A couple of months ago we watched a dreaded snapping turtle lay eggs on the sandy bank of the lake across the water from us.  Today a pair of smart crows discovered the nest and made off with the eggs one by one.  I know two birds with full bellies who will sleep well tonight!  And a whole host of lake wildlife made safer without the future snappers.  Circle of life.

Back to the book, where I am finally into the meaty chapters, which include Rutenberg's painting methods.  I am intrigued by his ritualistic beginning to each piece: circles of paint made with hands on canvas, "skin on skin" as he calls it.  He works outward from the center, exploring every inch of the canvas with his hands.  Recently, I've begun painting more with my hands than with brushes.  I stop thinking about what I'm doing when the tool is my hand,  It feels more like working in the garden - connected, present.  Rutenberg says "self-awareness is the enemy", and then he presses this further with a quote from my favorite author, Ray Bradbury: "Don't think.  Thinking is the enemy of creativity.  It's self-conscious, and anything self-conscious is lousy.  You can't try to do things.  You simply must do things."    

​Today in the studio, I vow to just do things.​