Mapping a Past...and a future

I have been working on a double secret painting that I may post latter on---when it's at a sharing point.....Today I delivered my work to Ross Gallery for the Mapping the Past exhibit. It is a sort of mini-retrospective of some work done between 1987 and 2006. It has been a strange and interesting ride reviewing all the old work, much of which I had to pull down from attic storage, thinking I would never show them again.

The two larger images on the postcard are older images, while the smaller ones are from the last couple of years. There are three different series in the show, but all the series are somewhat related. The two larger images represent the Underground Landscape series, which was influenced by strip mining in eastern Kentucky. The smaller images are a cross between Underground Landscapes and cellular images---particularly blood cell images relating to lupus or other autoimmunity diseases. Most of these images use oil, wax, sand and enamel on Arches paper or canvas. They are of all different sizes, but many of them are on 40x60" 1114lb. watercolor paper.

There is also another set of images that focus on roses; specifically, roses or flowers that have been given to me. The roses/flowers stand in for people in these images. They are also done on the 40x60" watercolor paper, so these rosebuds are the size of a head or larger. They create an interesting contrast to the landscape and cellular images.

So, I have been feeling no small amount of confusion in the studio in the past few weeks. Suddenly I have the summer to paint a little and nothing is good enough. But, looking at these images in the process of pulling together this show, I realize that there is much more to be said and done here and I think I can do it better than I did in the past. So, I thank Peggy for suggesting the show, and giving me the opportunity to see it all with a more objective eye at a time I really needed to believe in what I'm painting. Now my brain is busy with ideas and my fingers itch to get in there and get to work :-)