Monthly Archives: July 2010

Driving the Bears to Drink

Ken Smith brought this Flaubert quote to my attention (Thanks, Ken!):

“Language is a drum on which we beat out tunes for bears to dance to, when all the while we wish to move the stars to pity.”

I feel this way about paint, lately. Sometimes I am happy enough to beat out that tune for bears to dance to-

and sometimes I fear that I’m beating out thin dirges that would drive the bears back into the woods.

It is very hot and there are bugs everywhere. But- the crickets have started singing already in the evenings. A pleasant noise.

Physical exhaustion for no reason. Seven months without a cigarette.

The world has lost Chris Al-Aswad, who I knew only from his vivid presence on the internet, much too soon.

Escape into Life, the arts site he created, is truly wonderful.

Wishing Cap (Gardenias for Horsie)

Oil on canvas, 8″x 8″.

In my next life

I would like to play the banjo. I’d like to play it well. I shouldn’t push my luck and wish – concerning my hypothetical next incarnation in which I have as much faith as I do in the Easter Bunny – for a voice like Karen Dalton’s as well. I think there are stories about devils and crossroads…

Merge

I will have a piece in this show at the beautiful new CVA. “Merge” opens with a 7:00 pm reception this Friday July 16 (I wish I could say that Joe Cocker is going to be there) and runs until August 28.

Face Blindness

I never would have guessed that artist Chuck Close, known for his enormous portraits of friends, suffers from prosopagnosia- “face blindness.”

Audio of fascinating conversation available here.