Nov 2013
Fall is here!
Tuesday/November 05/2013 Filed in: painting
Fall is now upon us! The clocks have fallen back and the weather forecast is predicting snow. It’s time to come out of my denial that summer can end.
If you have spent anytime in New Mexico, you may know that the seasons gradually change. The sky remains blue most days and the temperatures will drop at night. Leaves change to different hues, but the degree in which you notice this depends on where you live. In the mountains, yes, but not as much in the desert areas, or even on some main streets that have more advertising, than trees.
The slow-changing southwestern autumn is contrasted to my memories of the Midwest. I remember wet Halloweens gone by, where my feet sloshed through damp leaves and frost, and I breathed heavy, cold air. The scent of burning firewood wafted through the air and the tips of my fingers turned red.
I have learned that what you gain by living in a new location is not limited to knowledge of that new place, but also a deepened understanding of the old. There are details that linger in my conscious now more vividly than they were initially experienced. For example, after being in New Mexico for almost a year, I flew home to Iowa. I had become accustomed to a mint-green and brown landscape by that time, but when I got off the plane, I was suddenly acutely aware that the color of green was radiant. It actually seemed florescent.
My last Christmas Eve while I was still living in the Midwest, I was trapped temporarily by snow at my friend’s home. Miles away my family prepared to gather for a traditional celebration. Finally, in a bit of desperation, the neighbor hooked up his tractor to my car and we put it in neutral. Later, a friend teased me that this was “sorta like a sleigh ride.” I remember being exhausted when I finally joined my family. Snow slows us down. More than that, it is stressful, inconvenient, and sometimes, makes us change our plans. I have only experienced one snowfall that really caused me to slow down in New Mexico. Most of the time, the sky has been blue and the roads clear.
The last few years I have started to understand the visual beauty in the bleakness of winter and that is a subject matter that drives me. As a painter, there is the initial challenge to find colors reflected in white, gray and black. A student artist is told to train their eye to see like an artist and they are taught that a single blade of grass may contain blue, yellow and red. The simplicity of winter begs us to slow down, take note, and contemplate.
So, fall is here. I have a lot of things planned and one of them is to begin work on a new series of paintings. The last few months I have been deep in studying drawing and design techniques, reviewing information that I was taught in high school and expanding my knowledge of software. Now, it’s time to make something new.
Coming soon...
If you have spent anytime in New Mexico, you may know that the seasons gradually change. The sky remains blue most days and the temperatures will drop at night. Leaves change to different hues, but the degree in which you notice this depends on where you live. In the mountains, yes, but not as much in the desert areas, or even on some main streets that have more advertising, than trees.
The slow-changing southwestern autumn is contrasted to my memories of the Midwest. I remember wet Halloweens gone by, where my feet sloshed through damp leaves and frost, and I breathed heavy, cold air. The scent of burning firewood wafted through the air and the tips of my fingers turned red.
I have learned that what you gain by living in a new location is not limited to knowledge of that new place, but also a deepened understanding of the old. There are details that linger in my conscious now more vividly than they were initially experienced. For example, after being in New Mexico for almost a year, I flew home to Iowa. I had become accustomed to a mint-green and brown landscape by that time, but when I got off the plane, I was suddenly acutely aware that the color of green was radiant. It actually seemed florescent.
My last Christmas Eve while I was still living in the Midwest, I was trapped temporarily by snow at my friend’s home. Miles away my family prepared to gather for a traditional celebration. Finally, in a bit of desperation, the neighbor hooked up his tractor to my car and we put it in neutral. Later, a friend teased me that this was “sorta like a sleigh ride.” I remember being exhausted when I finally joined my family. Snow slows us down. More than that, it is stressful, inconvenient, and sometimes, makes us change our plans. I have only experienced one snowfall that really caused me to slow down in New Mexico. Most of the time, the sky has been blue and the roads clear.
The last few years I have started to understand the visual beauty in the bleakness of winter and that is a subject matter that drives me. As a painter, there is the initial challenge to find colors reflected in white, gray and black. A student artist is told to train their eye to see like an artist and they are taught that a single blade of grass may contain blue, yellow and red. The simplicity of winter begs us to slow down, take note, and contemplate.
So, fall is here. I have a lot of things planned and one of them is to begin work on a new series of paintings. The last few months I have been deep in studying drawing and design techniques, reviewing information that I was taught in high school and expanding my knowledge of software. Now, it’s time to make something new.
Coming soon...
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