Sunset, Kilhooley's Lagoon

I just made up the title Killhooley's Lagoon. It's part of a new series of paintings I've been meaning to get back to since we moved four years ago. I suppose it's not really a new series, it's a scaling up from a series of small paintings I did several years ago, some of which can be seen right here on this site at Pluvia and Dawn Studies. These new paintings are in the range of 26 x 28 in.; the earlier ones are in the 8 x 9 in. range. They all look pretty much the same on a computer screen but quite different in real life. For the moment I'm thinking of calling them “Implied Landscapes” since the detailing is quite loose, you might say incomprehensible at close range. This is based on a very early aesthetic surprise in my life. My mother took us to the Worcester Art Museum in Worcester, Massachusetts, perhaps the first memory I have of visiting an art museum. I vividly remember seeing paintings that when viewed at close range were very loose smears of paint but from a little distance were luminous scenes of hills, horses, people, buildings. As I child I thought, “How could the artist know it would work?”. Now as a teetering old man I find myself replicating the excitement of that childlike amazement. I do worry that some of these paintings might look like things you could buy at Target or Walmart, but who's looking?

Music of the Moment

Here's one I've been working on recently, another one named for one of the moons of Jupiter. This one is called Ananke. This one has a variety of electronic and sampled acoustic instruments including mbira, guzheng, and percussion, along with a women's chorus.

I add one of these compositional sketches with each Moonblog entry on the new and full moon. I also have a page with more of this musical work in progress. Go here for a listen.

New Moon ~ March 20th, 2023