Happy New Year, albeit 17 days late

Inspired by a photograph, I took it one step further.

Welcome me back! It’s been a crazy several months, and the whole prospect of trying to get supporting images to cooperate with me here (like they weren’t in November) gave me chilly toes. I lost interest while being buried in numerous other things. So, there appears to have been some tremendous improvements made in WordPress with respect to image upload ease, and I have certainly been working! Time to share!

This little watercolor nods to Andrew Wyeth and is a loose interpretation of  photos I shot in Rollinsford last Sunday. We had recent snow that all but disappeared in the unseasonal warmth. The air temperature caused the snow to evaporate, as well as melt. The associated fog was so thick that visibility beyond 20-30 feet in places was non-existent.

This is the photo, called “Quiet Winter Rollinsford 2”, that provided the basis for the watercolor.

I am in transition, and as I take you through the recent work over the next few days, you will see what I mean. Photography has become a primary mode of expression again, as has a variety of ways to combine media. None of this is new, but the revisit I am sure will not produce what it did 25-30 years ago.

Why? Well, abstract hard-edge painting is something I know, and know well. That was a fun and fruitful revisit, but…remember the elections? I got very caught up in politics again, and when they were over, the intellectual dryness of the 2011-2012 paintings were no longer calling me back to make more. But, the urge to make art with more of a recognizable statement was and is still, paramount. I also need to be more “human”. Demonstrating a sense of humor in a few of the new collages has been a “first” for me, in a visual context.

So, happy New Year! Hope this finds my readers well. Thanks for joining me at artinsmallplaces.