DETAIL
6:04 PM: it seems i haven’t yet had enough of this image. this is the third variation of this image, which is a detail of a tree trunk i photographed last summer. the photo is, of course vertical. but it works better compositionally as a horizontal., which removes it one step from the realm of the representational. as a result, it can be appreciated more easily as a harmony of biomorphic shapes that may bring to mind animal and or plant forms. as i gaze at it right now, in our tv room, the red shape evokes a dolphin and the blue outline to its right, a flying dolphin! this will continue to morph over time, and this is, increasingly, one of my metrics for a successful painting; painterly marks, inventive calligraphy, unexpected combinations of color that work together and enough white space to float the whole reverberating song. a dolphin here, a bunny there, a vagina elsewhere.
the deep red of the inner trunk, revealed by a split in the outer trunk, which may have taken decades to develop, provides us with an experience of the rich coloristic glimpse into the inner life of a living tree.