This subject is of keen interest to me. I have always been curious as to why artists have an absorbed fascination with the material world. For an artist, objects take on a significance that goes beyond scientific inquiry (although this is present as well) and resides in a belief in the metaphysical magnitude of objects in the world and one’s relationship to those objects. This metaphysical significance imbues objects with “value”. Objects go beyond their material interest and take on a symbolic importance. There is an inherent bond between myself and what resides in the world. We all have this bond -but artists cannot ignore this deep link that is ever present. Somehow they are called to take note both consciously or unconsciously of what lies before them.

There is an inherent power in objects. And one’s pursuit to unlock that interiority reflects one’s own desire to find depth in oneself and in the world. Bachelard states, “Those who dream of degrees of depth within things will end by determining different degrees of depth within themselves.” (Bachelard, Earth and Reveries of Repose, p.6) The more we desire to unlock a secret depth within an object the more we find reflected there our hidden selves. It is why, when one looks at art work, one finds not only the intense rendering of the object itself but the stamp of the artist’s own being. “A reality that has first been dreamed will be imitated with more soul.” (Ibid,p.22)

I once had a painting instructor say to me, “painting is a moral activity”. This gave me much to ponder. It goes against the theory of “art for arts sake”. In the very activity of painting one gives and creates “value”. Painting is choices that give and create a hierarchy of value, an inherent importance to matter, and how one undertakes that job creates the moral code and framework that one will follow and present to the world. Painting is not just about putting lines or color on paper to make it pleasing to the eye. One’s obligation is to render an object in the most beautiful way, because this is the language of art, and present its significance, its moral value, to the world. It is a task of grave seriousness. It is the very reason Plato feared artists because beauty is a great and wonderful tool, when used wisely, to raise ideas and emotions to their highest level. Beauty reaches into the heart and mind of man- to his very center. Man feels the depth of his own being through beauty, creating a singular moment in his soul that will remain. Maybe Plato was right to throw artists out of his ideal republic. It is a task wrought with danger for the artist as well as society.

Every artist has their own way of seeking the depth in an object. Matter is something that can forever be peeled away like the skin on an onion. The more you look, the more that presents itself. Bachelard reveals, “If we see leaf, flower, and fruit within the bud, this means that we are seeing with the eyes of our imagination. It seems that here the imagination is a wild hope of unbounded seeing.” (Ibid.,p.12) Alchemists spent their entire lives seeking the depth within objects. They were the precursor to modern scientists. Through various methods they would seek to find the essence of the material before them whether it be mercury, lead, salt or gold. Through this process, not only did they discover basic elements, but they also discovered a portal into themselves. They sought to find the very essence of their own being. The process of seeking depth within the material brought out their own depth- their present interior state. In a sense, as they broke down the elements they raised up an awareness of themselves. They became conscious of their own depth mirrored in the very activity of inquiry. This allowed for a transformation of oneself through the distillation of the elements. One mirrored the other. Viktor Frankl speaks to the soul of the alchemist, “What is to give light must endure the burning.”

Many of the alchemists expectations took on imaginative qualities. They sought things beyond the material elements or looked for significances that science could not give. If the element turned out to be a beautiful red color, they felt they were closer to a “purer” state of the element. Color added depth. It was a signifying marker of the magnitude of an experiments success. Science now balks at this kind of notion, ’what does color have to do with it’. Sartre turns this notion on its head stating, “we have to invent the heart of things if we wish to discover it someday.” (Gallimard, Situations I. Critical Essays, 1947, p.306)

But as an artist, this has everything to do with the creative language- the language that directs us to our own depth. Color is a pathway to the very heart of the material world. It is one of the strings on the lyre that harmonizes and resonates with soul. There are others too- line, movement, composition, contrast. The mother of them all is Image. The image, itself, calls all things into harmony and acts as the symbol- the spiritual correspondence-to soul. Swedenborg states, “The human imagination is a symbol -discerning organ, which can really make sense of the forms of this world only by intuiting their spiritual correspondence.” The imagination perceives within the depths of material forms their significance for soul. This imagination precedes any observation one can make of the world. It, in fact, allows one to be aware or conscious of what lies before one’s senses. “It is reveries that give us all the treasures of the interiority of things.” (Bachelard,p.9) Without imagination, one cannot really see. Our sensitivity to forms in the world can only occur because one’s imagination opened up one’s perceptual instinct. Otherwise, how can it be that primitive peoples of the south pacific had no word in their language for the color blue, when they lived under an equatorial sky of intense blueness?  Joanne Stroud writes in her introductory essay to Bachelard’s book, Earth and Reveries of Repose, “The imagination is always engaged in any satisfactory endeavor, because the imagination, for Bachelard, is primary and precedes any action or observation. Even the simplest action of walking from here to there, we can only do what we imagine doing. Imagination takes experience and enlarges upon it, searing it in our souls.” (Bachelard, Earth and Reveries of Repose, p. xii) The primacy of the imagination allows, through reverie, a means to understanding even things we consider scientifically self-evident- like ‘the sky is blue’. And beyond that, the imagination invokes meaning. All of the material world now takes on true significance for soul. Matter becomes the material of transformation within one’s soul as well as a conduit for change in the world. “”Images that are primary psychological forces are stronger than ideas, stronger too than real experiences.” (Ibid,p.15)

Copy of Robert Henri's "Johnny Manning"

In my last blog,I spoke about Robert Henri’s late Irish portraits of children. In the last series of portraits at Corrymore, 1927-1928, Henri focused on a new way of expressing color that was authentically his own drawing from his passion for extensive research and experimentation. Over the course of his painting career, Henri constantly experimented with color theory. He adapted various palettes from the early “triangular palette” (Winter’s studio) to the “Chord Palettes” by H.G. Marratta, to the color temperature/value palettes of Denman Ross which included his extensive “Ruben’s Palette” to the”Permanent Palette” and back again to the “Chord Palettes”.

In 1927, Henri develops a palette that culminates all of his studies- a palette titled “3 or 5 Set Against the Complement“. This takes a limited range of colors and faces them off of the direct complement. In previous palettes he uses a near complement rather than a direct complement allowing for the intensity that a complement gives without the possibility of complete neutralization. But even in these new palettes, Henri forgoes neutralization and instead places the complement in a field of color.

This palette of “3 or 5 Set Against the Complement” takes much of its effectiveness from years of working with Marratta’s “Chord Palettes”. Henri seeks the same over-all color harmony combined with an intensity in the colors. If the intervals between the colors forms a harmonious whole, than one can allow those colors to pretty much stand on their own. These colors form such a unity that one can directly stand them together without adulterating the colors. But if one is painting in a realistic or naturalistic mode than there are requirements on the colors to not just be beautiful together but also to convey the form and color temperature accurately and with subtlety.

In many ways, Henri comes full circle. These late portraits are subjects illuminated by a single natural light. These figures emerge out of a darkened space, yet a space full of color. They are singular people with emotions flowing between artist and model. These are not the early black/brown backgrounds from his youth where the ideas of Whistler dominate his work. These paintings are sprung from a life of intense meditation on color, paint and subject.

What creates the feeling of unity in these paintings is that the palette is almost primarily built on colors that are in close proximity to one another. In fact, they are side by side on the color wheel and they act as a foil in which a complement stands alone and by such contrast seems to emerge out of a well of color that directly intensifies it. The unity of the colors  radiates from a single complement. “Radiating Intensities” was a term Henri used earlier in his career to explore the dramatic effect of a color taken from its most intense saturation and slowly moving out from this central point diminishing in intensity as well as value. This has the effect of a candle illuminating a room where as one gazes slowly away from the light source the color as well as the value decreases until there is utter darkness and total neutralization. In this palette of “3 or 5 set against the complement” Henri combines these studies with a sense of a chord.

Years ago, I copied a late Irish portrait of Henri, “Johnnie Manning”. Henri used “5 set against the complement” to paint it. He notes in his notebooks that he began using “5 set against the complement” on April 19, 1928. “Johnnie Manning” was painted in June 1928 after several months of experimentation with this new palette. I noted to myself at the time, that he does not use any mathematical equations to achieve the Bi colors and the Hues. The five stand as they are with limited mixture between the colors. The palette is as follows:

Orange —-> Blue

R, RO,  O,   OY, Y

BLUE

Pigments: Burnt sienna, Cadmium Red #4, Scarlet Vermillion, Cadmium Orange, Cadmium Daffodil (sometimes used); Ultramarine Blue

This is the palette, although it was laid out with the blue at the bottom of the palette opposite the Scarlet Vermillion. Additional colors used sparingly for the dark hair and dark eyes, a touch in the background- Black and Burnt Sienna combination. He also added Mars Violet rather than using Ultramarine to the Cadmium Red #4. Finding the same colors was very difficult as companies change the names of pigments all the time. The most difficult color to match was the Scarlet Vermillion. This was an incredibly intense orange that had more depth to it than a cadmium which appears flat in an orange. This was the most important color as it was used primarily for the flesh tone. He also used Zinc White to lighten the flesh tones.

The painting was beautifully harmonious. The color of the painting hovered in the orange zone with the only accent of pure blue in the boys suspenders. It radiated warmth, life and an inherent vitality that only a master could achieve- truly inspired from within and without, capturing a child’s innate love of life. The bond between them forever present for us to experience.

Robert Henri, Pet (Wee Annie Lavelle), 1927. Oil on canvas.

The last work, by any artist, is the most telling. In most cases, it encapsulates all that they have personally strived for. There is usually a brevity and power to the work that has taken a lifetime of study to achieve. Also, the artist is no longer interested in his or her career or what any person or group thinks of the work. There is a feeling of perfect freedom gained through years of reflection on one’s art.

I became interested in Robert Henri when I was a student at the Lyme Academy of Fine Art. At that time I struggled with color. Not that I could not achieve the color of the object or flesh tones that were before me, but I desired a sense of color that spoke on a deeper and emotive level. I saw plenty of paintings that were well rendered, that exuded a sense of life, but the color was limited and did not appear to reach its full potential in the realm of realist painting. I wanted more.

My mentor, Deane G. Keller, presented me with a copy of a catalogue of a Robert Henri show at the Orlando Museum of Art entitled, “My People”. This gift from Deane was the beginning of my journey, a journey that leads to Henri’s color theory as well as my own personal journey in paint and the language of image. Color is at the center of it all. It is part of the materiality of the imagination- it is the mode by which the artist speaks, not words, but visions; not ideas, but “being” as such. Henri was to become my teacher.

I spent about 4 years examining the notebooks, letters and articles of Henri in the Yale University Beinecke Rare Manuscript Library. This archive held the intense studies conducted by Henri  in regards to color theory, compositional theory, the”permanent palette” as well as the various individual palettes for each painting. The only thing it does not contain is Henri’s Record Book. This Record Book lists every painting that Henri made referencing an identification number on the back of each painting. It also gives the location of each painting- to whom Henri sold the work to. It also identifies the names of the models and some notes about the process. This Book resides in the family collection managed by Henri’s grand niece, Janet LeClair.

I have traveled near and far to see Henri’s late works housed in many obscure small museums throughout the United States. In 1998, I painted a copy of one of the late Irish portraits- “Johnnie Manning”, 1928. This painting is in the collection of the Yale University Art Gallery and has never been on display in the 14 years I have been visiting this gallery. They also own a companion Irish portrait of a girl, “Little Girl”, 1928.

So you can imagine my excitement when I read about a Henri show encompassing the late Irish portraits at the Everson Museum of Art in Syracuse, New York. The show is entitled, “From New York to Corrymore: Robert Henri and Ireland“, February 11-May 13. The show contains a significant collection of the Irish portraits from the years 1913, 1924, 1926- 1928. Henri completed over 80 paintings a season and had every intention of returning in 1929 to continue his work but became ill after his return to the U.S. and died in 1929.

Henri expressed in 1928, in letters to friends, that he had finally achieved the expression of form that he was after- minimal technique, expressive color, advanced composition and an intensity of human feeling in the faces of the children he referred to as “my people”.

These portraits are unique in that they encompass Henri’s own journey exploring color theory. The 1913 portraits reflect Henri’s interest in the color theories of H.G. Marratta, who identified the relationship between musical chords and color. This system he incorporated throughout his life in various paintings including the Irish portraits. The paintings of 1924 use this theory of chords and triads of chords. The paintings of 1926 reflect Henri’s ideas of a permanent palette that could be used on several subjects alike. These include the palettes of NOV. 1, 1926 and SEPT. 17, 1926. In 1927 Henri still relies on the chord palettes but he begins to experiment with a new type of palette that he developed himself – 3 set against the compliment and 5 set against the compliment. These are the palettes where he felt he had captured something new, yet simple, that had similar characteristics to the chord palettes, but even a more limited range of color.

But the limitation added a new dimension, intensifying the color in a subtle way while remaining harmonious. The work of 1928 bridges the early work of 1913 to the late work of 1928. The late work has that unifying simplicity without sacrificing the emotive feeling for color. And this is what truly excited Henri. He felt he was on to something new and profound for his work. Henri gets beyond the Armory Show, and its European modernism, and discovers something “American” again that springs from within himself. He in a sense, comes back to himself and the confidence he felt prior to the Armory Show, which supplanted the “Whitmanesque” spirit of this country.

The balance between an intensity of color and harmonious unity redefine Henri’s portraits. I imagine this insight came to him in the presence of such beautifully simple people of Achill Island- so far from the modern world and deeply in touch with their inmost emotions. They are the people of the poetic lament, hardship paired with isolation and emotive insight. In such an environment, intense color would intuitively seek an innate harmony- color becomes an underlying intensity ever present below the surface of things.

In my next blog, I will discuss this last color theory of 1928 of Robert Henri.

In my last blog, I went through my personal process of selecting a palette, choosing the right chord or color key that achieves the practical aspect of mixing the right combinations with the visual sensuality to evoke a heightened sense of emotion. Since I have begun the larger canvas, I thought I would share my palette in a visual way. One cannot really comprehend the depth of color and the infinite possibilities until one actually mixes the paint. Everyone wants the quick formula to get a desired result. There are numerous magazines on technique but it is only in the very act of painting with your subject before you and the intention in your heart that one can find the right and true way for oneself. Robert Henri states in his The Art Spirit, “There will be new ideas in painting and each new idea will have a new technique.” (The Art Spirit,p.67) Technique is developed when the artist is faced with the challenge of trying to paint something that he has never attempted before and he uses his inner resources when presented with the problem to achieve “new” results. It is the sheer inventiveness of the artist that prevails. So don’t look at what I am going to present as an end all, but look at it as a window into what this artist has done to paint this painting at this moment with these emotions that lie presently in her heart.

This is the written palette I have chosen:

 “Three Set Against the Complement”:

YG          G          GB

RO bi      R hue    PR bi

  R

RO bi: R+YG

PR bi: GB+R

R hue: O+P

Here it is in color:

Here is the order as laid on the palette:

One thing you will notice is an L with a block around it on the right side. This symbol describes what Henri called a lightener. This refers to a substitute for white. As you may have noticed there is no white on the palette, instead there is this light color made from YG + White. Instead of using white to lighten a color combination, I use this. This refers to Henri’s idea of a super-color. A super-color reflects the color of the light source. It is like the light from a sunset. When we observe a sunset, that warm orange, gold color, it affects how one sees all objects in its glow. Every object takes on the super-color. It is the same if one is working in a studio, the cool north light from the window, affects all those object that are bathed in it. So this cool yellow-green acts as a reflection of my light source.

You will also notice the wonderful grays that I was able to mix in the opening image of my working palette along the left edge. These grays were perfect for the shadow edge when one is presented, most times, with an indescribable color that is hard to identify. Sometimes I made it too green and needed to add this gray to get the right balance. In a chord , it is the grays and muted tones that bring out the inherent richness in the color.

Another thing that is important to note is that the color of the chord needs to be seen in some way in a pure state. If I over mix the colors, I do not achieve the vibration and luminosity of the color chord. Then, essentially, I have eliminated the very reason for the chord and its emotional vibrancy. This is the main reason I paint a color study prior to working on the large canvas- how much can I leave the color in the chord independent and unadulterated? When you look at the chord or key you will notice that the chord provides neutralized and semi- neutralized colors that act as a foil for the more luminous ones. They are the Bi colors and the Hues. It is this balance that must be maintained.When the balance is achieved than the whole painting sings of color. And that is what you want -to sing a new song that is true and beautiful.

Color Study

Over the years, my painting practice has become more and more refined. I always begin with sketches from memory followed by several sessions from life working with a model to achieve the subtlety and feeling I am after. I then begin to re-express the image with color before I venture into the larger, final image. This is a very important step. In a sense, I am setting the stage for my character- the lighting, the mood, for the performance. Color is critical. Color provides the emotional key. It acts immediately upon the viewer almost prior to his very recognition of the forms presented.

This re-expression of the image through color- the key- takes different forms. In most cases, I construct the image as I imagine it, including the color. I then look to several color combinations called chords and re-develop the image “color key” depending on which combinations I feel are most evocative and carry the emotional tenor I am after. At this stage, I lay the colors on my palette and work the possible combinations. My primary concern being, can I achieve the realism I am after along with a heightened sense of emotion? Can I achieve the lights and shadows, the cools and warms as I see them along with the temperature variance in the flesh tones? I am looking for the most dynamic color combinations that can coexist, providing an inherent unity as well as fluidity throughout the image.

I want the paint itself to be beautiful-the color to be full and lush. Paint must describe the form but it must also have its own beauty and sensuality- its very materiality  touches us in a sensate way. Color must exist in a duality-expressed as pure paint as well as a description of form. So the color must be beautiful in itself, impressive to behold.

Sometimes there are two chord combinations that are very close. And either chord would work effectively. At this stage, I take each combination and proceed to paint a study from life. It is only by working from life that one can examine those subtle shades of indescribable colors and how to achieve them. And in almost all cases the dominate chord will become self-evident.

In the present painting I am working on, I was torn between a more balanced “Major Chord” and “Three set against the complement” color combination. This terminology is derived from the notebooks of Robert Henri. In the 1990′s, I spent about 4 years researching Henri’s color theory, taking extensive notes which I still refer to. This has been the most influential study I have ever conducted and has effected my work ever since. My eyes were opened to a new world of color and its expressiveness. Here are the two combinations:

The “Major Chord”:

 O   -   G   -   BP

Yhue- GB bi  -  P hue

 

Y hue: O + G

GB bi: G+BP

P hue: BP+O

“Three Set Against the Complement”:

YG          G          GB

RO bi      R hue    PR bi

  R

 

RO bi: R+YG

PR bi: GB+R

R hue: O+P

In the end, I chose the complement combination of Red set against Green, bordered by its near neighbors because the darks held together in such a way as to allow the lights of yellow-green and red to feel luminous. I have included both combinations so that the reader could conduct their own experiment and see the variance between the chord and the complement combinations. One can only really get a feeling for color through mixing on the palette in a tactile way.

In my last blog I spoke about the ability of matter to evoke the imagination of the artist allowing him to not only take matter and give it new form, but also to transform himself and the world. But I am curious about the connection between matter and memory. Memory, like matter, is the basis of an artist’s ability to express. Memory attaches itself to matter in many ways. One’s memory recalls images- images of material objects that carry significance. Memory holds these images allowing them to live in the mind and soul of the artist. Memory allows the images to gather, collectively, reinforcing a sense of meaning. They are magnetic, a larger image gathering to itself smaller related images creating a conduit of thought. When images gather together in this way, the artist feels more compelled to listen to them. They take on an import that seeks expression.

As one is engaged in matter, the very act of painting and observing, memory is constantly recalling related images in its storehouse. This storehouse contains not only first hand memories of the artist but also those of the collective unconscious. These collective images give one’s own memories a context- they are images within a greater myth. One’s personal image fits within a larger story. It is why we are inherently attracted to myth. One’s vision is a smaller chapter in a larger work that includes all men and all things.

Although this is the case, it does not diminish one’s personal memory or personal images. Instead, the path between memory and image travels two ways. It moves one towards a greater myth but also returns one to one’s very center. There is an outward movement that ends in oneself. This movement gathers strength and momentum as it cycles to its return. This is the same movement that occurs in reverie- one’s thoughts gather around an object and travel beyond it connecting  all sorts of images to that object making it evocative and memorable- creating significance.

The strength that returns upon the image is meaning. Without memory, one could not gather the import of understanding necessary to create. Creativity hinges upon the power of the image to evoke upon the viewer’s heart a memory residing deep within. Art touches that hidden memory, through the very matter which is the art piece, and calls it forth and joins to it a superabundance of meaning.

There is a collective memory that the artist taps into as well. It resides in the works of artist’s of the past, their material productions, creating a lineage of memory upon which the living artist is placed. Robert Henri called this “living” memory, the Brotherhood. One could call upon these artists of the past to help and guide one in the present.

Without memory one could not hold onto an image. Without matter, image could not be embodied. Image is the very materialization of meaning held between memory and conscious perception. Image embodies “…the oneiric forces which flow unceasingly through our conscious life…The earthen objects we work return an echo of the inner forces we expend on them.”      ( Gaston Bachelard, Earth and Reveries of Will, pps.3 and6) These oneiric forces we recall out of memory and materialize them through the art, the craft, the manifestation of both our conscious and hidden life.

Matter embodies more than its material existence. Matter engages us on a deeper level. It calls forth from us a response- be it a material response or a spiritual one. But the artists engagement is a spiritual one- make no mistake. Even if that artist sees himself as agnostic, his activity in the world is spiritual. He is engaged with matter on a spiritual level. He not only looks to matter to feed his imagination, but uses matter to speak again of what he has seen and felt.

In the very activity of mixing paint on the palette with a brush, he is manipulating the matter of paint, applying it to the canvas material in a physical process with arm and hand and one’s entire body. He observes matter- the object of significance. He uses matter- paint. He is matter engaged- the body. Matter is the key to unlocking his experience, but this experience is beyond the material embodiment of object and artist. It is its spiritual significance that the artists seeks.

Baudelaire’s concept of “correspondences” is all about the materialization of spiritual significances. All that we see speaks hidden words to the artist/poet, revealing and seeking a spiritual dialogue with him. This is the dialogue that the artist is in tune with. This is the dialogue that he cannot turn himself away from. Keats states it simply in Ode to a Grecian Urn”, “Beauty is truth and truth beauty this is all we know and all we need know.”

How does this engagement manifest itself and intern become a spiritual ground capable of transforming oneself and the world? When one is engaged with matter on a deep level one’s mind and soul can travel beyond the object observed. One becomes engaged in a deep reverie that carries the artist to an imaginal realm, and it is the engagement in this realm that brings insight and personal transformation, as well as the possibility of transformation in the world. The Sufi masters, like Ibn’Arabi, speak of the isthmus that must be crossed to the imaginal world. This isthmus manifest itself when the artist is fully engaged in his work. Engaged to such a degree that he no longer sees just the object before him but sees beyond it. It is the realm of memory and imagination speaking to him words and images that he could not have projected or forseen. Sometimes this imaginal space has an embodiment described as a muse or sometimes it is reflected in an insight that comes as a flash of understanding. And sometimes it comes as something mysterious that one does not have a clue about and its meaning takes time to be revealed. But either way, the artist trusts himself to it. He must. If he does not, his life becomes one of despair. It becomes the “Dark Wood” of Dante. One is forever lost among the trees where one cannot see in the material its significance. In this space, self-destruction is inevitable.

The artist observes matter, is engaged physically with matter but produces something of spiritual significance- that encompases the mind, the heart and the soul. What is this thing that comes to birth through this process? Is it not the art itself- the painting, the sculpture? Matter becomes transformed through the spiritual medium of the artist and again is materially manifested. What is this art? Does not this work become itself an object of significance? It not only becomes this type of object, but it also becomes matter that can engage the viewer spiritually just as an object in the world engages the artist and calls forth his own personal transformation and vision. This object, this art is capable of the same thing. Delacroix states in the journal that in and through the art work, ”…mind speaks to mind”(and soul to soul), from the artist to the viewer and back again. Art, itself, becomes the isthmus that again leads the viewer, this time, to the realm of the imaginal. It becomes itself, the Eurydice, calling Orpheus into the underworld so he can undergo his own transformation to his new self and become the person, the artist that he is called to be.

The material world is the medium by which man can be transformed. He is matter. He manipulates matter. And he creates a material object. Yet, the product of all this activity is spiritual and the journey from birth to death is a spiritual one and the artist is at the center of this engagement and transformation not only for his own benefit, but for the benefit of the entire world. This is why he is compelled to this activity alone. It is at the very heart of existence.

It is in these pauses, these moments of intense recollection that one finds the source of one’s imaginative powers. These pauses are great gifts and from such a gift , the artist is able to return a gift by offering these moments back to the world, back to society. The observations, both interior and exterior, become the jewel held out by the artist for others to see and to hold themselves. It is in these small observations, these material moments of reverie that insight comes not only to the artist himself but to those that further contemplate these images.

I love how Manet would spend so much time composing his letters to family, friends and even clients and gallery owners. He would always begin by drawing something very ordinary that was before him- a peach, a flower, a chestnut in its case, even a tiny almond just split open- then he would write. I feel these small studies opened Manet up to a space of reverie and deep contemplation and in that interior space he was able to write what was in his heart. This exercise allowed his creativity to manifest itself on two planes- that of a visual acuity seeking to extract meaning from what appears to be ordinary as well as provide an access to his innermost thoughts. These simple expressions of observation became a jewel he could return as a gift to those he wrote to. And the fact that many of these letters have been preserved, they were small about 5″ X 8″, shows how much they touched the readers.

So I offer my simple observations back as a gift to those who wish to see and to see again the beauty that lies before each one of us if we only take a pause to see it in its fulness. Thank you for the opportunity, for it is in those that support the arts, we artists find consolation.

The show runs from Saturday, December 10, 2011 until April 6, 2012. All work is for sale and inquiries should be through The Erpf Gallery at www.catskillcenter.org.; 1-845-586-2611. The images presented here are on display. Several images from that week at the falls are not in the show and any inquiries for further images should contact me at attentiveequations@gmail.com.

This week, I have been working on a drawing of a nest. It is no ordinary nest although it was built by a common catbird. But this catbird, I have come to know as it returns every year to my yard to raise its young. It has built a nest in the pine, the ash tree and for the last two years in my forsythia bush. This year’s nest is quite beautiful. It is roundish with an extensive array of various twigs. Some are as fine as human hair while others are rough and prickly like a pine branch. There is a beautiful arrangement of strips of bark, paper thin, curled and wispy undulating around the circumference. There are arching sticks that could not be curved by the body of the bird and they hang separate yet integrated. They caught her eye during the gathering and embellish and compliment the nest. There is even a single maple seed, held like a coveted jewel lying where she herself sat. It is a beautiful, well-crafted vessel to ride the summer breezes-a place of refuge, a home.

It is interesting to meditate on the objects one chooses to draw or paint, to look for those significances that lie in front of us. In Bachelard’s, The Poetics of Space, he describes the “living” nest, “…it is living nests…, the nest found in natural surroundings, which becomes for a moment the center- the term is no exaggeration- of an entire universe, the evidence of a cosmic situation.” (Gaston Bachelard, The Poetics of Space, p.94) A nest is a bird’s house. I’ve known it since I was a child. Yet, it holds something within itself that is extraordinary. As a child, I loved to discover a hidden nest, to peer inside and to see if there were any eggs and what color they were. It felt like a separate world yet one that I was intimately connected to. How can such a little thing like a bird build something that would sustain the elements, allow the young to thrive, protected and safe? When I look at my nest now, I am so careful with it. It seems so fragile. I try not to jostle it so I will not lose any of the twigs. How did this fragile home, so precarious amid the branches of the bush, survive until the fall, until the leaves revealed its placement?

“A nest, like any other image of rest and quiet, is immediately associated with the image of a simple house. When we pass from the image of the nest to the image of a house, and vice versa, it can only be in an atmosphere of simplicity.” (Ibid.p.98) In order for one to appreciate the image of a nest, one needs to have a strong feeling for a place that has acted as a home. I often think of my grandmother’s house in Philadelphia. It was a not so fancy row home in the Polish section of the city, but upon entering it I felt transported into a past that was very real. There were remnants of her Polish immigrant roots as well as photographs from the past and not so past. Late in her life she traveled much. There was one black and white photo that stood out ( she had it stuck in the glass door of the china closet),it  was taken in Egypt in front of the pyramids and my grandmother is aloft on a camel with the vastness of the desert behind her- a real dream image. As soon as I walked into this house, I felt I was at home. After my grandmother had died, I often dreamed about returning there- meeting her there. Bachelard adds, “not only do we come back to it (the home) but we dream of coming back to it, the way a bird comes back to its nest, or a lamb to a fold.” (Ibid,p.99)

The nest is such material for the imagination. Its physical properties evoke reverie and image. This is matter that is charged with significance. One unconsciously ‘relives the instinct of the bird, senses its place in the world, a cosmic unity’. The bird is so much a part of the living. Its ability to endure the hurricane, the snowfall and the frigid cold in all its fragility gives one an enduring feeling of security and comfort. “And so when we examine a nest, we place ourselves at the origin of confidence, an urge toward cosmic confidence. Would a bird build its nest if it did not have its instinct for confidence in the world?” (Ibid, p. 103)

It is important when one looks at an object, paints that object, that one reveals the depth and intimacy that resides there. It is why Van Gogh’s paintings of nests are so beautiful. He relates the nest to the many peasant cottages he painted. He wrote to his brother, Theo, “The cottage, with its thatched roof, made me think of a wren’s nest.” (Van Gogh, Letters to Theo, p.12) “For a painter, it is probably twice as interesting if, while painting a nest, he dreams of a cottage and, while painting a cottage he dreams of a nest…For the simplest image is doubled; it is itself and something else than itself.” (Bachelard, p.98) Isn’t this the real task at hand- to carefully paint what is before you while revealing in the process its deeper underlying significance?

“Man himself is mute, and it is the image that speaks. For it is obvious that the image alone can keep pace with nature.”  Boris Pasternak

oil sketch "After Delacroix"

Reading about color theory is quite a dry experience which I engage in periodically because I am always on the look out for a new approach to enhance my own understanding of painting. Most of it is so rational and system based, reflecting the 19th century academic approach, that one wonders if they have truly engaged in observation for its own sake- because it is beautiful in itself and should be the basis of one’s engagement with the world. I am not saying that there should not be a practical system, that can be taught, in order that observation as well as a scientific knowledge of color and its effect on the visual field can be translated and advanced. But “life” itself must be the goal of all engagement. As soon as this is disregarded, the work loses its efficacy and becomes dead. Hence, the predicament of academic painting in the 19th century as well as much of modern art.

But when I read the Journals of Eugene Delacroix, I am once again inspired by his vital approach to “living” and how all painting must spring from this intense engagement with life. Delacroix is the modernist that one should look to. Baudelaire hailed him as the true modernist because he was able to translate his “illimitable” experience to paint, expressing an imaginative dream- like state where his experience in the world merges with the expanse of his imagination.

Delacroix was a “keen” observer of the world around him and through that constant approach to life he finds ways to enhance and activate his work in the studio as well as his grand murals which depend on his imaginative genius.

“During a walk…I noticed some extraordinary effects. It was sunset; the chrome and lake tones were most brilliant on the side where it was light and the shadows were extraordinarily blue and cold. And in the same way, the shadows thrown by the trees, which were all yellow and directly lit by the sun’s rays, stood out against part of the grey clouds which were verging on blue. It would seem that the warmer the lighter tones, the more nature exaggerates the contrasting grey…What made this effect appear so vivid in the landscape was precisely this law of contrast. The general rule is, the greater the contrast, the more brilliant the effect.”(Journal,p.146)

This observation, where the compliment to a color emerges from a neutral tone, had not yet been thoroughly discussed by French artists. It was not until Michel-Eugene Chevreul’s essays on color that it became a part of the artist’s toolbox. Delacroix trusts his observation and transforms it into a possible effect for his own painting. His mind always set upon the emerging work.

In the Journal, Delacroix allows his imagination to flow between the sensate world and those interior movements of soul that speak on another plane. The artist is the bridge that binds those two opposing movements. “To imagine a composition is to combine elements one knows with others that spring from the inner being of the artist. Then from a well- stored memory forms are brought to an apparent reality.” (Ibid.,p.21) The artist binds together those experiences and transforms them into the vision that forms the work. “Whatever his apparent subject, it is always himself that the artist paints. Subject merely exalts his inner feeling”. (Ibid.)