I read an article regarding an exhibit of the conceptual artists of the 60s and 70s. largely all live or recorded performances. The writer seemed to avoid the language of theatre or film reviews as long as possible, but eventually had to acknowledge that his response was mainly to the theatrical elements of the performances. It got me thinking about the differences in visual art and drama.

The theater involves much more verbal activity, but it includes much visual activity also. I thought of the stage sets and film scenery as well as the costumes and expressions of the actors. Oddly I remembered reading an Edward Hopper description of one of his paintings in which he referred to the painting in terms of a stage.

I have no objection to mingling of the arts, but I feel that painting and sculpture are different in that they involve a deliberate attempt to stop time for the viewer if not for the artist. While drama may make us stop and think in way, we kind of have to do it afterwards. The drama moves at its pace, and we are forced to keep up with it. A painting can be looked at as long as we please. If it is on our wall we can come back to it as often as we like.

I was told a few months ago that a young woman had stood an hour looking at one of my paintings, and I took it as a sign of success. I also realized how few paintings I really look at thoroughly, and how many I pass by with barely a glance.

All these thoughts are kind of obvious, maybe mundane. It just reminds me that we have to put in a lot of time and thought to fill the painting with enough to grab and keep our own attention as well as the viewer.  I think sometimes I unconsciously decide that the painting I am working on is turning out to be one of those that people will just walk by and get in a hurry to finish it. My best work usually gives me a feeling that I don’t care if it ever ends; although sometimes there is that thought that I had better stop before I ruin it.

I hope you all are looking at or working on one of those special paintings that is always telling us new things or things we have forgotten to remember.

I have been trying to draw the human figure for over 20 years, but I have not painted figures very often. I think part of the trouble had to do with composition. I always used to look at figure drawing as only an exercise, trying to learn proportion, movement and expression, but not thinking in terms of a whole painting. Lately I have been painting figures every Tuesday at the S12 Gallery and Studio at least once a week.

I have decided that painting figures is not as different from painting landscapes as I had thought. I usually don't have too much trouble in deciding what parts of a landscape to put in the painting and what parts to alter or leave out. The same can be true for the figure. I was concentrating so hard on the figure, I forgot about the painting. Trying to paint the whole figure is in itself a troublemaker for the composition. The figure attracts too much of the attention. I think it is better to either include part of the figure only, or to partially lose the figure in the rest of the structure. 

A few weeks ago, I spent over two hours working on "Just Thinking", a full figure facing away from me. 



Then I moved around to the other side. I started with the forearm and hand, and in less than a half hour I painted 'Say Again', which I think is a much better painting. Using a smaller piece of paper to work on I managed a much more focused composition.