As Time Goes By...

I'm getting ready to step into a new commission for a client's home in Toronto. It will be a large commission... a canvas 36x48 inches based upon a combination of an actual mill site as it exists today in conjunction with a "historic"interpretation based upon old photographs and a historic atlas representation.

Tomorrow, I will be painting on site... sketching and making photo references of my own... looking for "ideas" that "I' can stitch together to form the basis for the final composition. "I" am quite excited... and really feel that the clients and "I" are on the same page in what we're all looking for as an outcome. This is a project that "I" can accept without any hesitation or concern.

I will be busy for a number of days... and away from this site... but I wanted to leave some food for thought... to perhaps extend the "ideas" and directions that I expressed in the last posts. "I" was truly encouraged by the comments and positive responses to the last post. Those comments simply confirmed a common belief that we all are unique in some fashion... in our goal-seeking and our motivations to create. As well... we all agreed that we were working in concert in our efforts to express some aspect of our experiences... our joy... our passions... our creative Selves.

The word "speak" was used over and over again to express the notion that our work can communicate just as eloquently... passionately and effectively as written language to the viewer who "feels"a chord struck "within". I have selected a favourite painting of my own from my past... one which "I" feel best substantiates my ongoing belief that paintings create opportunities for conversation and dialogue.

While it required an unusually lengthy time to actually be resolved... I feel that it illustrates that process needn't be hurried or predictable as it is approached. Each painting has its own place in time and each is a stepping stone to the next.I have kept this painting for myself (for now) because it is a narrative of sorts about my journey and "I" do feel attached to it in so many ways. It is a large oil painting signed and dated 2006 as the completion point. The title is in fact... "As Time Goes By"

This title has three planes of reference. The "Idea" for this painting first emerged in the form of a rough, shorthand line "scribble" on a scrap of loose paper... referred to as "Post Graduate Study" in October of 1979. The "Idea" surfaces again in October , 2001... in a sketchbook where the compositional form and interior are developed further... but again are left unresolved.

During my son's swimming lesson at a local resort on July 9th, 2003... I played around with several ideas using ink thumbnails and finally arrived at the final window format and basic composition. The final push and commencement of the actual 36x30 inch canvas would not begin until November 3rd, 2003... finishing in fits and starts in August of 2006.

The space between the conception of the "Idea"... and the completion spans almost 24 years of thinking... rethinking... "playing" and then arriving at the point of distillation... where all parts were in place and "I" was certain of the path to take. I also had acquired more tools and techniques... like glazing for my toolbox in between that prepared me to deal with the satisfactory conclusion of this canvas... and "Idea".

"As Time Goes By" can be seen to be an appropriate title by itself. But if "You" care to "read" the elements of the painting... "You" might find yet another explanation for the use of this title. "I" will leave that to "You"... to further enter the "conversation"... or not.

One last extra fact. "As Time Goes By".... Casa Blanca... my Dad's favourite song... one that he closed out many dances he played at... over his 50 years of entertaining with his art form... his piano styling!

There are so many reasons and ways to make Art. Choose your own and ...

Good Painting to "You"!