Number is Portal

"Number is Portal" - oil on gallery-wrapped canvas, 30 x 10 x 1.5 inches.

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Science is thought by some to be dry, technical, and quantitative. It is not. Study is exaltation. Fact is miracle. Number is portal. Understanding is joy. - STEVEN NIGHTINGALE

"Study is Exaltation I" - oil on cradled wood panel, 12 x 6 x .75 inches.

"Study is Exaltation II" - oil on cradled wood panel, 12 x 6 x .75 inches

We spend a lot of time in the wild.

And also many hours getting to the wilderness and returning home again.

The passenger window becomes a viewing portal on the long drives, with an endless display of clouds, mountains, fields and trees.

"Understanding is Joy" - oil on cradled wood panel, 24 x 12 x .75 inches

"Study is Exaltation III" - oil on cradled wood panel, 12 x 6 x .75 inches

​The hither and yon views are often so good that the passenger feels a little bad that the driver cannot take photos.  We take turns driving, of course, but the clouds in the morning are vastly different from those in the late afternoon.  Which is better?  It is always a surprise. 

​And so I have a large digital file of pictures from the road, which inspired this series of abstract landscapes (abstract-scapes) and a full immersion into capturing that mood   while in the studio.

Study is, indeed, exaltation.  A form of worshipful reverence for the things our eyes get to see, and the wondrousness of what we pass through from here to there.

"Study is Exaltation IV" - oil on cradled wood panel, 12 x 6 x .75 inches

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​About the art: these pieces were all painted alla prima  (wet into wet), beginning with a very wet background of darks and building the layers in increasing thickness toward the lights.  What I learned through many iterations is: the details get in the way with these - a hint is better than full disclosure, a clue rather than an answer.  For several pieces, I fell into the mistake of overly detailed fluffy clouds, which looked, I don't know, contrived and meh.  A squeegee across the wet paint immediately improved everything.  After a long drying time, a final coat of varnish on the wood-based pieces added depth and deepened the darks.  

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