Welcome.
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Painting (and drawing) are records of dynamic pointing, relating linguistically and emotionally to the time when the high priest would dip an index finger in the blood of the ritual slaughter and trace signs that connect the people with the mysteries and world beyond.
I have been painting for 3/4 of my life so far. For more than 1/4 of my life I have been going into the wilderness to paint. I go into wild country to witness the landscape by painting and drawing what it is like to be there in mind and body. I commit to continuing this venture so long as I am able to put one foot in front of another. It's best when I'm all alone, though usually I go out with a small group of 1- 3 others. I cannot hope to master such painting, regardless of my skills and efforts. The land is too varied, vast and ultimately too tough. But it is my beacon, the measure against which all the rest of my art must stand. When I'm out in the landscape I wait until the land seems to move; to come alive. I start to see geological processes and personalize them. I feel how the land folds back onto itself, touching one part to another like a blow; like a caress; like hands rubbing against the cold... And then there's the light, and the clouds blowing and dancing in the sky. I could go on; sometimes, particularly if I'm tired or the weather is foul, I do go on with minutely observed and obsessively considered detail. If the painting is going well, though, I paint every day as long as I can. It is enormously satisfying to finish a large canvas in the field; the more difficult the subject matter, and the more challenging the terrain the better. Then I force myself to break away and explore. I sketch and take panoramic photographs. The photographs are not source material for my paintings, but rather material for another kind of art, one of immersion in virtual reality. The sketches and journals are source material for other paintings and for prints and very large-scale carvings on copper and bronze.
