Studio Days: January 30, 2007

In a time of absolute cold, heavy waves of non-light are shocking my system into modes of defense and I’m doing all I can do to survive the creative drought that is know as winter in the Midwest. In times like these, I turn to the Byrds. Sometimes it takes hippied-out lyrics and thoughts about inner space travel to rock me out of my rut.

For example, here are the lyrics to 5d (fifth dimension). Feel free to sing along:

Oh how is it that I could come out to here and be still floating
And never hit bottom and keep falling through
Just relaxed and paying attention
All my two dimensional boundaries were gone I had lost to them badly
I saw the world crumble and thought I was dead
But I found my senses still working

And as I continued to drop thru the hole
I found all the surrounding
Who showed me the joy that innocently is
Just be quiet and feel it around you

And I opened my heart to the whole universe and I found it was loving
And I saw the great blunder my teacher's had made
Scientific delirium madness

I will keep falling as long as I live
All without ending
And I will remember the place that is now
That has ended before the beginning

Oh how is it that I could come out to here and be still floating
And never hit bottom and keep falling through
Just relaxed and paying attention

Words: Roger McGuinn

I’ve been working on new panel paintings and new large paintings, as usual, but I’m also working on a commission for a good friend of mine, featuring Mr. Sam Peckinpaw. Among other things, I am also trying to re-invigorate my collage works. I had to stop for a little bit because I noticed I was sanding off the tips of my fingers and this was becoming a little distracting. I was more fascinated with the layers of skin than the layers of my collage pieces...such a kid. Anyway, I’ve decided to start working on several pieces which will be, for me, my mid-winter masterpieces, ha ha. These pieces will feature conglomerations of found materials and many experiments in my less-than-painterly philosophy, applied liberally over textured surfaces. It's all about the surface usually, but this time I am interested in the backbone as well. I have been thinking about Hurricane Katrina, and about all the things people have to deal with during disasters like that, and then how these possessions resurface and how naked they all seem stacked together, greeting the eye like awkward moments captured in high school photographs. Case in point, a photograph.

These works will be catalogued somewhere in the realm of abstract collage, mixed media assemblage, boot-brut, and Ruralist. Also, most of these new things will have something to do with superstition and reviving the human spirit, building beautiful sand castles out of dirt.