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Shales Slides and Interrupted Raw PLaces - a Double Scoop!

7/2/2020

8 Comments

 
"Shale Slides - oil on plywood, 16" x 20".  Available here.

In the long journey out of the self,
There are many detours, washed-out interrupted raw places
Where the shale slides dangerously
And the back wheels hang almost over the edge
 - Theodore Roethke,  from "Journey Into the Interior"


​It was a week of limited color abstracted seascapes in oils...learning to soften edges, resist over defining, create movement in paint.  Which oddly parallels my life at the moment.  Edges softening.  Allowing situations and concepts to be more free-flowing and less defined.  Creating movement during times where movement is somewhat restricted.  That Universe....it just loves connecting the dots between art and life.
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Shale Slides
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Interrupted Raw Places
​"Interrupted Raw Places -oil on panel, 7" x 7".  Available here.

The thing about resisting definition (in art and in life) is that you have to be comfortable not knowing exactly where the edges are.  Which, as Roethke so aptly pointed out, may leave your back wheels hanging almost over the edge.  I suppose this is the same as living at the edge of your eyeballs, which we've touched on before, dear reader.  The place we strive to be in order to know we are really, really living.  

About the art:  In the first piece, the substrate is plywood, which allows some very nice geological texture when the paint is scraped and pushed.  The second piece is on standard art panel - much smoother.  In both cases, palette knife, rubber wedge and paper towel were the only implements.  The oils were mixed with cold wax to allow a thicker build up of texture.
8 Comments
Carl Stoveland
7/2/2020 11:57:31 am

Dang you are making some great work Jen. I think we all know that place of back whales and definitions. All of it keeps coming back to control right. Grip too tight and you lose the essence of what you are striving for. Breakthroughs only happy when we give the universe a chance to have it's say.

Reply
jen
7/2/2020 04:24:45 pm

Carl! Thanks, friend. As a fellow control freak, I know you are an expert at the philosophy of loosening the grip. :) Some day we will be all bendy like Gumby.

Reply
Carolyn
7/2/2020 12:14:32 pm

These are lovely! I have so enjoyed watching you paint these last two weeks. I just want to get to that looser, abstract feeling that I see you and Pauline painting in! The representational artist in me really struggles with this....but I keep on hoping!

Reply
jen
7/2/2020 04:25:40 pm

Carolyn! Girl, I struggle with that SO MUCH! Pauline makes it look easy. But you and I both know it is a herculean task to embrace that looseness. WE WILL GET THERE!!!

Reply
Dotty Seiter link
7/2/2020 02:38:48 pm

Jen! Thank you for inviting me into a long out-of-control slide interrupted by a raw place where my wheels hang over an edge. Uncomfortable as all get-out and JUST what I need.

You are masterful with palette knife, rubber wedge, and paper towel.

Masterful.

Reply
jen
7/2/2020 04:26:13 pm

Dotty! Aw. You always make me feel like a super star!!!! Thanks, friend. :)

Reply
Carol Edan link
7/3/2020 11:02:06 am

Beautiful colors, movement, flowing....small format..big impact!

Reply
jen
7/5/2020 07:42:32 pm

Carol! Thank you! Somehow it is easier with the smalls. I am working up to something REALLY big (for me, anyway) and have to keep practicing!

Reply



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  • Home
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    • The Downside of Lycanthropy
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    • NUDGE - SHOVE
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