Thursday, December 30, 2010

Moonlight Record 7


"Moonlight Recording 7", Enamel on Glass and Ampersand Panel, 5"x5" - North

Tuesday, December 28, 2010

Moonlight Recordings


"Moonlight Record 5", Enamel on Glass and Ampersand Panel, 5"x5", 2010
- North

Tuesday, December 21, 2010

When I work, I work very fast, but preparing to work can take any length of time. - Cy Twombly


"Winter Record 7", Enamel on Glass and Ampersand Panel, 6"x6", 2010 -North

Monday, December 20, 2010

I’m not an abstractionist. I’m not interested in the relationship of color or form or anything else. I’m interested only in expressing basic human emotions: tragedy, ecstasy, doom, and so on. – Mark Rothko


"Moonlight Record 10", Enamel on Glass and Ampersand Panel, 6"x6", 2010 - North

Thursday, December 16, 2010

Rain


"Winter Record 22", Enamel on Glass and Ampersand Panel, 6"x6", 2010

Tomorrow is snow, but today, the high desert rain embeds its fragrance into the adobe walls of my studio home. - North

Wednesday, December 15, 2010

Enlightenment


"Moonlight Record 9", Enamel on Glass and Ampersand Panel, 5"x5", 2010

I reside with untainted harmony, on the back portico of my studio home. My evening dose of enlightenment has arrived. A pipe with Almondine tobacco burns in my right hand, a glass of ice water in the left; and I sit with my feet propped on the stone wall separating my life from the desert below.

The even mood and curious relaxation it produces is directly related to the earlier day’s fevered painting prowess. Both activities produced a singular mindset, a manner of focusing beyond the innumerable voices to that one outstanding expression of perfection. The evening’s half-moon is just one more faultless complement to the afternoon’s paintings that served to document the planetoid’s multiple impressions upon the landscape.

Despite popular notions, enlightenment is regularly achievable, though not always easily. We have all attained it at some point or another. The trick is recognizing that occurrence of subtle bliss for what it is… a private moment to rule your world unabated. - North

Tuesday, December 14, 2010

Livin' the Dream

I must study politics and war that my sons may have liberty to study mathematics and philosophy. My sons ought to study mathematics and philosophy, geography, natural history, naval architecture, navigation, commerce, and agriculture, in order to give their children a right to study painting, poetry, music, architecture, statuary, tapestry, and porcelain. - John Adams


"Winter Record 11", Enamel on Glass and Ampersand Panel, 5"x5", 2010
-North

Monday, December 13, 2010

Composition of the World


"Winter Record 13", Enamel on Glass and Ampersand Panel, 5"x5", 2010

My paintings are only abstract if the entire world is viewed abstractly. There is no god. No grand design to life. Houses, rocks and rivers are all just objects; entities that exist on their own compositional game board, like bacteria.

One must understand the lack of presence to appreciate new existence. Current organization of the realist world is based upon a combination of accepted traditions and the rational assumptions made from casual visual observation. I’m not stating that art must be viewed as abstract or realist… I’m asserting that the entire world must be visually reconsidered. No two trees are identical, yet one makes assumptions to what a tree should look like. My call is to drop the assumptions. Look closer. That 3”x3” square of bark, where the trunk and dirt and root exist… encompass a complete composition of the world. - North

Friday, December 10, 2010

Moonlight Record 12


"Moonlight Record 12", Enamel on Glass and Ampersand Panel, 6"x6", 2010
-North

Thursday, December 09, 2010

Moonlight Record 3


"Moonlight Record 3", Enamel on Glass and Ampersand Board, 5"x5", 2010
-North

Wednesday, December 08, 2010

Painting Nirvana


"Winter Record 14", Enamel on Glass and Ampersand Panel, 5"x5", 2010

I’ve reached a point in my work, where the act of painting is the actual end product. Building compositions and theorizing on color is completed on the fly. Sketching and general palette selections are attained in my mind, hours prior to the creation process. - North


Tuesday, December 07, 2010

Winter Recordings


"Winter Record 3", Enamel on Glass and Ampersand Panel, 6"x6", 2010
-North

Monday, December 06, 2010

Moonlight Recordings


"Moonlight Recordings 2", Enamel on Glass and Ampersand Panels, 6"x6",2010
-North

Friday, December 03, 2010

Moonlight Recordings


"Moonlight Record 1", Enamel on Glass and Ampersand Panel, 5"x5", 2010
-North

Thursday, December 02, 2010

Winter Recordings


"Winter Record 2", Enamel on Glass and Ampersand Panel, 6"x6", 2010
-North

Wednesday, December 01, 2010

Winter Recordings


"Winter Record 1", Enamel on Glass and Ampersand Panel, 6"x6", 2010

While waiting for the newest small oil on canvas works to cure, I started two new series of enamel paintings. New work will be posted daily for quite a while. -North

Thursday, November 25, 2010

Thanksgiving Morn


Thanksgiving Morning 2010, view from the studio


Thanksgiving Morning 2010, view from the studio

Woke to a high desert snow for Thanksgiving morn. Collected wood for the fireplace and am now waiting for my first slice of pie...
-North

Tuesday, November 16, 2010

New Work in Process



Individual 15"x15" canvases will become 6"x6"x3"(deep) once stretched.
-North

Tuesday, November 09, 2010

New Miniatures in Process

I awoke to a light mist in the desert. I’m still not used to the time-change; five o’clock is still too early but attempting to return to sleep never works out.

I had plans to stretch and gesso a large canvas, today. The idea was a finished painting in the neighborhood of 60”x80”. Last evening I went to bed with thoughts of much smaller works. I dreamt of miniatures along the lines of the past summer’s enamels; nothing larger than 12”x12”. Most in the 5”x5” frame, possibly, creating a mixture of oils and enamels with a goal of 300 new paintings by spring. It is supposed to be in the freezing temperatures, by midnight and remain throughout the coming days. I always loved using my long cold winters for inventory building. - North