October Apologizes

So, after a miserably wet and cold start, October appears to have been in an apologetic mood this weekend. It presented us with a couple of those truly magical days that are referred to around these parts as Indian Summer. I am ignorant of the origin of the terminology, but I love the concept. These are the days that the leaves seem to glow from within. The birds are collectively taking one giant breath before they launch themselves on their migratory voyages. And everything has the quiet that accompanies the act of getting down to the business of preparing for winter. In good years you get two or three of these weekends between the end of September and Thanksgiving and every time you get them they are cause for celebration...so I went down to the beach and celebrated with sticks and Staghorn Sumac leaves.

A New Painting

I just finished a new painting the other day. It is part of the group of "Pattern Recognition" pieces that I have been playing with. This particular piece revisits the colored stone works, but now on a bigger scale. I will not get the fourth piece done in time for the Mercyhurst College show, but I'm OK with the first three pieces. In real life the tactile quality of this piece is an improvement on the earlier works and I think matches what I wanted in the earlier paintings. I also think the colors turned out quite nicely. I'm working on a smaller piece that I'll finish this weekend or sooner, which will be the last of the 10 or so pieces in the show. Then we'll see what happens from there. I still haven't had any luck finding an exhibition space for this new body of work, but I'll keep plugging away. Hopefully the weekend will be dry enough to get some beachwork done as well.

I Went for a Walk

Fall forms and colors.... October tries to make up for playing the miscreant. Thanks October.

Fall forms and colors...

The Equinox in Review

The Equinox has come and gone and we are well into a particularly dreary October. It is the kind of October that helps you understand why the movie, The Road was filmed here. A great movie, by the way, very powerful images and questions. Although it doesn't quite reach the book's level of raw, it was a good effort.

Anyways, the equinoctial celebration went off as planned, despite less than favorable weather. A steady wind coming off the lake made cold beer on the beach less of a pleasure, but it didn't stop us from trying. Thanks to everybody who came for this year's edition. It was a pleasure sitting around talking and equinoxing together. When I got down to the beach that morning, I was greeted by the staring eye on the stone (the second picture) and I knew everything would work out despite the weather. A sign from the gods, or Kris Risto, as the case turned out. I'm going to plug his show right now which opens at the Urarro Gallery here in Erie, Friday the 15th, 7:00-9:00. Go see it, I guarantee it will be good for your soul.

Back to the Equinox...I finished this year's Beachwork actually on the Equinox, the party was on the weekend two days later. I'm happy with the end result. There are, of course, some things I would do differently now, but erasing a section of stone sculpture is not an option, so I will just live with my mis-steps. The third picture is the first photo of the finished work, taken at the moment of completion.
At the bottom I did an Equinoctial flower for the event and there are some pictures of it before the rains came. I have to go now. I'll finish these thoughts later.