The Art of Hiding

I haven’t posted any artworks since fall 2005. Not because I haven’t been making art, but because I’ve been in a woodshedding phase, as the old jazz masters used to say. Baseball and work rants are easier, less of an investment, to write about. I spend a lot of time in a cubicle (see above)....whatever I have left is precious.

What have I been up to? A great deal. I’ve continued with oils as a primary medium, but still work with pastels and sketches in pen and ink and conte crayon. I have dueling obsessions, sometimes focusing on color rather than form, sometimes going the other way. Just as small shiny objects attract birds and young children, form attracts me like a magnet. I'm usually on either the Color Theory board at WetCanvas, or the Drawing board, or the Abstract/Contemporary board, soaking up info from other similarly besotted painters. My poor significant other. He’s much too sensible for such talk, but kindly indulges me as I sing the praises of cuttlefish ink, recommend unbleached titanium as a neutralizer or debate cobalt vs. ultramarine.

I’ve sold some work lately, entirely by accident. That, in itself, is probably the most tremendous step forward. I had a vision of myself as a secret artist, and selling things sort of lets the cat out of the bag, doesn’t it? Yet I’m not painting in a vacuum. I’m out on my front porch every weekend, going away at the big easel, and on fine summer evenings as well. I suppose it comes down to the difference between being an amateur and becoming a professional. I’m comfortable as a talented amateur; the “professional” label is new yet, and fits me oddly. It will take some time before I get used to the idea.