The Deconstruction Continues

 

 

The Stonewave continues to diminish. Each weekend I get several hours of subtraction in and the results can be seen below. The main form is now only about 4 feet tall. The stone has to go somewhere. Currently it is in several six foot stacks down the beach a way. Storage facilities as it were. I am also putting some of the large stones in a stack on the end of the current structure for the time being. By the solstice I should be down to ground level at one end and as weather permits, I'll work my way across. The top picture is part of a recent painting that I just completed. I'll photograph the whole thing one of these days. 
 
 

 

A Stone Migratrion

 
So the Stonewave has begun its migration to the east. The last two weekends I spent a couple of hours herding stones to a new location. For the time being what I am doing is storing the stone in columns and stacking them by size in different piles. The piles will become pretty impressive I would imagine by the time things get cleared out. The plans for the next iteration are still fluid, but they are there. I don't have a timeline, but it is interesting to be involved in the deconstruction process. I would expect to have the top eight feet off by next week and that will take me down to the big stone. At that point the process may slow down as weather starts to come to the lakeshore. But I love the big stones. It will be good to work with them again.

 Here are the stacks after the second weekend. One is about 6 feet tall at this point. The larger stones I am placing on the east end of the Stonewave for the time being. When I have the groundplan for the new project in my head, I will start moving them to their new home. In the meantime I have an idea that I want to test out. I'm also working on a painting that I hope to have done by the end of the month. I have another solo show in the works, so it will be the first new piece for that show. Snow fell for the first time today...we have at least 3 inches since this morning.

And Wall Comes Down...again.

I'm going to try this and see if it works at all. Pardon me if it doesn't but I wanted to see if video is worth playing with here. The bad news is that once again the Stonewave has to be moved. Somebody bought the property, so the work has to migrate again. I will post

some images of the dismantling process. Deconstruction can often be every bit as interesting as construction, and the Phoenix that arises keeps the process from being too depressing. So the next post will have some images of the final state of things before and then a record of the diminishing. Until then...

 

Show at the Erie Art Museum

I'm trying to get back into using this site, but much has been going on including preparing for a big solo show at the Erie Art Museum. This has been sucking up most of my time...I occasionally took a moment to breathe, but other than that it was pretty much getting the show together. I've also been doing work on the beach, which I will address later, but so much time has been given over to doing, that little time is left for the recording. So having said that, go to the Erie Art Museum and see the show. I think that it is a good show and  it works well in the space, it is free on Wednesday, so you can't go wrong. And it will be up through the rest of the year so you can't use the old "I was polishing my goldfish" excuse. There are at least thirty paintings in the show, a handful of  digital photos of beachworks and three sculpture installations, including the one visible in the photo below. It is seven plus feet tall and over 11 feet long. OK.

 

 

LateSummerNightsEve

Much busy-ness over the summer. Preparing for a Fall show at the Erie Art Museum, doing work on the beach, trying to be somewhat present to all of the people to whom I should be somewhat present, so no blogging. I will be making up for that soon...I think. For now here is a new somewhat inappropriate entry for a summer blog as it is a painting of ice. I will be posting new beach pictures soon, as I have found my camera. I left it on the beach one day while working and when I returned later in the day it was gone. It has now been returned to me by the family that found it. Good news. Anyways, this is just to make sure that I could still access the blog and that it hadn't  fallen into disrepair. Hi to Julie DiGello...thanks for the note. Some good things to come...soon, I hope.

The Pilgrimage

 

Over the last three decades my Easter has been marked by a pilgrimage to the Grand Canyon. I don't know how many times I have been there but it has to be around twenty. You cannot really appreciate it without seeing it in person. One cannot really take a picture of the canyon. One can at best take a picture of a shadow of the canyon. Like Plato's cave all images are hollow representations of inexpressible grandeur. Even so some of the images can still knock the shit out of you.

 

 We camped on the rim the first night and headed down Hance Trail to the river. The photos below are the views from my tent for three days and nights. On the beach...with the river and the wind and the stars and not much else but the reminder of how small you are.

 Here's the bath tub down near the end of Hance Creek where we camped the third night. This is as close to perfect as one can get after a four hour hike on a 80 degree day.

 It is not only the large scale that surprises you, sometimes the canyon has some smaller mysteries like a dead Peregrine Falcon. How does that happen one wonders.

 One morning I made a piece on the beach from detritus along the river bank. A sun in the sun for my son. This was one of the places we shared and that he is forever linked to.

Not Quite a Vision of Spring

This is what Spring is looking like in Erie as March came in like a lion and ignoring the old saying,  went out like one as well. Pretty much acted like a lion in between for that matter. So not only are we the snowiest city in the US, but this is the coldest winter in the last 30 years for us as well. It has put a huge impediment on any winter beachworks and I've been working in the house since mid-December as the studio still has ice in the water bucket. We just hold out for the inevitable. All the Spring birds are back in town, so it can't be long.

 

Went down to the beach to see if winter had done anything to the Beachwork. This is what it looks like under last night's snow. There is some damage to the top and somebody has vandalized the lower wall, but it is still encased in ice in places which might cause some problems as the thaw begins.

Here is a shot of the lake. Some open water is visible way out, but there is still more ice than not and I would expect that to last another week before we start to see the big break up.

 

Just a shot of the ravine with the latest five inches to fall.

 

In anticipation that the lake will return to a liquid state at some time in the near future, I've been doing some Pattern Recognition pieces of water. Below is a 24 by 24 study to test out some new colors and techniques for imaging water. I like the result, so I am currently working on an extended experiment that will include some 3-D forms that will be floor pieces placed in front of a wall mounted piece. The wall mounted piece is under this study. It is 30 by 40.

 

 This is the first piece of the year. It is 6 feet tall and 2 wide and three deep. It took so long to do that I am so worn out by it that I can't really say anything more. I need some distance from it before I can talk. So that is what I've birthed in 2014 so far. Hi Julie...I must admit I was not in any way tempted to eat it. Thanks for the information.

Frozen In Time

 

In the first week of February and the deep freeze continues. Day after day of single digit temperatures and lows below zero. January had a couple of days above freezing but the new year has been the coldest that I can recall. Erie also is the snowiest city in the US according to the media, but I question that. Somebody has to have had more than us. I have not been able to work in the studio yet this year. I have moved operations indoors for the time being. Usually the cold will drive me out of the studio for a week or three, but I have now been in exile for seven weeks. The piece below is the last piece of 2013. I have incorporated some of the "Beachwork" ideas into the painted medium here. It is six feet long and two wide. It is not exactly what I had in mind, but it turned out OK. I'm closing in on the first big piece of 2014. I hope to have it done by the end of February. It is another sculptural type painting.

 

 

I have attempted to add a video here. It is the first time I have tried such a thing. It is a panoramic view of the frozen lake from atop an ice dune right in front of the current Beachwork. If it works I might be motivated to branch out. My fingers are crossed.

 

 

 

This is what the "Beachwork" looks like at this point. It survived the winter storms intact and is now awaiting further work once Spring unlocks the beach. This is the view from straight on...

This is the view from the check dam facing west out over the lake.

This is the view of the whole wall from out on an ice dune. To give you a sense of scale the project is over seventy feet long. New ideas for extending the project are brewing.