Reason Holds The Reins

Returning from the frozen north and the earliest winter I can recall in many years. Final strings to tie up for a major exhibition in October of 2011. It's ink and paint, not blood and soil but at times I must admit, it sure feels that way. 

The Sky And The Ground

Evening, and I will be taking leave shortly, along the trail that leads backwards to Baltimore. A 23 hour drive, with a detour in Richmond. I'll take the coat off the nail, bring the sketchbooks and nutbread.

Rowing Onward

Diverted by the tasks of assembling a new website(markrenner.net) to coincide with the release of a new recording. . .and trying to settle down to focus on painting and finishing another recording before February.

Sketch is a part of the detail from a forthcoming painting,which may or may not resemble it at all.

Measured Response

A few other glimpses from the Glasgow sketchbook.The days here have been more bearable and I am hoping to put away the paints on friday and take the sketchbook for a little exercise .

Along the Way

A recent painting completed for the Grand Prairie Invitational.

While Asleep

Working on several things at once. Time away has dashed my routine. As promised, a quick study from the sketchbook- near the Barras on a Saturday morning. . . 

Last night I dreamt of a painting.It is not often that I am given visions or ideas while sleeping, however the image was still in my mind at 6:00 am when I awakened. Unlike Blake, my work has never been informed by the mystical,(or Dante or Milton for that matter). I have no idiosyncratic polemic to expel.Yet sometimes you take what you've been given, so I will attempt to map out this nocturnal impression on canvas.

Good days ahead. . .

On We Go

Returning from 3 weeks in Caledonia, refreshed/ renewed and pushing toward the rushing current that leads to year's end.

An early November release date for Enduring the Going Hence, the next recording , and increasing backlog of work for a forthcoming exhibition, more than a few years inthe making.

Will scan some sketchbook pages from the Scotland visit if I can pound some life into my tempermental scanner.

If you find yourself in the Richmond, Virginia area in the next few months , I have a print included in the 2010 Harnett Biennial of American Prints .

http://museums.richmond.edu/exhibitions/index.html

Oil the Harvester

I will have two paintings in the forthcoming Grand Prairie Invitational
opening later in the month...have just returned from
Baltimore , where I recorded 2 songs for a forthcoming
project.Will be leaving for Glasgow in another week-
music, assault on the sketchbook and . . . vacation.

Cast Your Bread

A relatively productive summer.Imprisoned most

days by the soaring heat , there has been little

to distract from painting and the odd print.

Incessant labor, bringing fruit  . . .

Empirical Study

 

Working out some scenes on  canvas-parable ,interpretation , honing motif  . . . Forestalling work on smaller panels for the expanding breadth of a larger surface . The overwork of aTexas summer has kept me indoors for a while,and I am craving a day out for the vigor of sketchbook infusing exploration.

"The Incarnation shows man  the greatness of his wretchedness, through the greatness of the remedy required ." Pascal

Indelible Impress

The past week was spent awash in black ink,running print after print, making slight detail corrections in between . I had truly forgotten how much I had once enjoyed this medium,and the early dews of trial and error discovery .The threadbare confines of my budget allowed me little extravagance,so I worked on small sections of linoleum and wood , rationing every cut and line lest I slip and lay waste to the small surface.

I will purpose to post some more recently completed prints .

Lately

The return to the far less familiar world of Texas.Ten days in Baltimore,echoing the more violent summers of the recent past.The heat is rising.

      A decisive commitment this month to working on a much larger scale than I normally approach. Canvas and a length of wood beckon.

The Twitching Flame

Returning from a weekend journey to Lafayette,Louisiana for the opening of Southern Open 2010,a juried exhibition featuring three of my smaller paintings.Lovely town with an apparent sympathy for the visual arts.One notable observation on the long drive down Route 49 - just the most exotic variety of roadkill one could ever witness on a state highway .

It's back to work on lino-cuts this week , a large canvas beckons and as Ivan Morrison once said,there's "no time for shoeshine. . ."

Innate Reserve

Detail from a proof run of a larger lino-cut .

The week finishes at a hurried pace- last minute framing to ready three small paintings off to Southern Open exhibition opening on the 8th of May at the Acadiana Center for the Arts in Lafayette,LA .
acadianacenterforthearts.org

Coarse Foddering

A lot of work approaching completion.An active month - painting,prints.Learning not to lose heart on slow moving days.A few exhibition pieces in the works, and Lord willing, the final recording next month for the long delayed :Enduring the Going Hence . . and at

long last the website update/overhaul.  

Head Full of Green

Spring comes . Ideas arriving . A quick detail sketch from a forthcoming paintng . . .

The Confounded

The long drive down from Baltimore left plenty of hours to drift through the remote past.There is much about the people and terrain of the south that remains a mystery to my northern soul .I suppose until now,I have formed my subjective view through the words of Flannery O'Connor , Cormac McCarthy and the lens of film makers. For the months ahead,I abide and observe...
Current work - pressing ahead on new panels for a regional exhibition, and several new prints...

Beyond What Kindness Can Do

It is nearly time for returning to Ethiopia. I will attempt to chronicle more this year in the sketchbooks,and post a selection upon returning....

                                                                                             

Beneath the Limbs

The ordinary fields of the day to day , the return to Ethiopia on the horizon . Thinking about home , as if I have rehearsed this day before . Recalling that one great meadow grove that flanked the furthest corner of my father's property .

Working out some musical ideas , and attending to some new lino-cuts .

"What is the comfort of a plan of a house if you do not enter the house itself ?"

                                       C H Spurgeon

I Cede

Like an angler that returns to his favorite spot,I will always hew to the reliable pages of the sketchbook when inspiration is scant .

Days of Rendering

Starting to grow more at ease in a new work area.Outside,the winter tears along and there are sporadic taps on the roof and the walk as the remaining pecans are shaken from the limbs. I hope to get outside with a sketchbook when this cold front breaks . I was startled when running through the wood yesterday by a coyote .