Shales Slides and Interrupted Raw PLaces - a Double Scoop!

"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.

Shale Slides

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.  

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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.