parade 39 32x78" as it looked at 3pm, may 15th
detail: parade 39 at 3pm, may 15th
3:33pm update: in spite of the darkness, i was able to make good headway with parade 39. i am definitely learning form previous paintings in the series, both in my compositional choices and handling of the oil paint. i was encouraged this morning when i sent ron, owner of gremillion & co. fine art, where this series will be shown in an exhibition opening november 5th, an image of parade 37 (scroll down to find it) and asked his opinion about the area of wood on the entire lower third of the composition. he responded by saying he though it was necessary and that he liked the painting. i'm feeling pretty tired on this, the afternoon of my birthday, so i'll clean up and go back to the house to join mikela.
2:47pm update: PABLO CASALS
I looked him up because I've been listening to him play bach's cello suites. when I tried listening to yo yo ma, I had to turn it off. so I returned to casals & looked him up to try & find out what made him so special. here's part of the story:
In 1888 his mother, Pilar Defilló de Casals, who was born in Mayagüez, Puerto Rico of Catalonian ancestry, took him to Barcelona, where he enrolled in the Escola Municipal de Música.[4] There he studied cello, theory, and piano. In 1890, when he was 13, he found in a second-hand sheet music store in Barcelona a tattered copy of Bach's six cello suites. He spent the next 13 years practicing them every day before he would perform them in public for the first time.
i believe that his discovery and his instantaneous recognition of bach's Suites as his own is present in every note he plays, every pause. He makes his instrument breathe and infuses every twist, every turn with his catalonian soul. art is so much more than "technique." it's the revelation, the unfolding of the artist's personal story finely honed by years of development, informed by ones observations, interactions in such a way that the story comes through every note, every brush stroke, every line of poetry or prose, every move of dance.
stage 1 of parade 39
DETAIL: stage 1 of parade 39
12:46pm update: this is the first stage of parade 39. we're having an unusual number of overcast, windy stormy days, and today is one of them. occasional bursts of rain and gusty winds. right now the light in my studio is on the edge of being too dark to paint. since i only paint in natural daylight, it might be time to have some brunch. i'm going to make myself an omelette and hope it brightens up in the mean time.
philip tarlow at 7 weeks with his mom in crown heights, brooklyn
10:37am update: today is my birthday. mikela and i don't pay much attention to birthdays; hers is in 4 days, on the 19th. we have in common that our births were traumatic, near-death experiences, for both mother and child. sure, that has had a profound effect on our psyche. so what else is new? mikela did inform me an hour ago that she was going to have a conversation with ken, one of our two tech team members, that would essentially get the ball rolling for our fall actionlab BETA launch. best birthday present i could ask for. although an a. lange & sôhne watch wouldn't be too bad either!
i'm gearing up for parade 39 & should be able to start painting within the hour.