Under the Morning Moon

Under the Morning Moon

"Under the Morning Moon" - oil on canvas, 26 x 31.5 x 1.  Ready to hang.  Available here, at Artfinder and at Bluethumb.

“The main thing is this — when you get up in the morning you must take your heart in your two hands. You must do this every morning.” - GRACE PALEY on growing older.

I suppose I am at an age where I spend a bit of time thinking about, well, age.

Time seems to run faster the older I get.  And quite a few people who once were are no longer.  It isn't a morbid dwelling or preoccupation that I have, just a recognition of what time it is (in my life) along with a sense of ​preciousness.

When Paley's quote crossed my path, a part of me sighed and thought "THIS!"  Yes, holding my own heart in my two hands in the morning  - it sets me on a path of cherishing the day and myself within it.  Mostly.  But it is an excellent start to things.

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​About the art:  inspired by some very stylized and abstracted figure suggestions from the AI bot and then rendered with my own particular twist.  Beginning with a toned stretched canvas and sketching with loose, liquin-thinned oil paint.  Working from the faces outward and using color and highlights to draw the eye to the intimate moment in the center.  Carving through wet paint with a very small rubber wedge to create movement in the clothing and background.  Resisting the urge to overly define - letting the paint abstract slightly as it moves away from the figures.