This Is My Father's World

All creation singing, and preening in the garden outside my studio window this morning. These birds won't be ignored.

 A block print to be run- (this restive horse doesn't want to yield to the preoccupying canvas on my easel at the moment ).

The Arrow That Flies By Day

From a window on the garden I watch God bring down the curtains on autumn.

 Some progress,albeit small, on new recording. Also, some new lino cuts in the offing. Making an effort to return more to prints in the forthcoming year.

 The worker does his work . . .

What Has Taken Place

 Back in the studio this week, itching to begin working after a European journey consuming most of November. The rich offerings of masterworks in Venice and Florence , and even Milan made for an immersing diversion. And ... warm days for a Glasgow November. Blessed, it's true.


Many thanks to all of those who attended, and purchased work from "The Deserters " exhibition last month. I was truly stirred by the many kind remarks and remain grateful for your patronage. The reception was a warm welcome to a northerner, unfamiliar with the charms of Fort Worth and it's community.

( featured sketches from : Edinburgh, Florence and Glasgow ... )

And If You Go

Abiding

Counting off the remainder of days before the opening of "The Deserters" exhibition in Fort Worth,Texas. Work to be done - press, invitations, framing...
 Other projects in the offing - a print series and book on the book of Lamentations .The return to two postponed recordings, and a few exhibitions pending. 

Ordinary Air

All but consumed by the tyranny of the last large canvas/panels marked for inclusion in October's The Deserters exhibition ( some minimal detail in progress, in photograph above ). Anticipating a great sense of relief lying in the pasture that waits beyond this show. Unfinished recordings to tend to. Possibly another book of prints, based on the prophet Jeremiah's poetic Lamentations.

Moments Of Clarity

Several ways of seeing the high summer months of monastic exile. Diversions are minimal. Contemplation and self analysis flourish.Long days overlap, but are currency for a future allowance. 

Along The Graded Shoulders

Dates for forthcoming exhibition, "The Deserters", have been finalized .

The Deserters
Paintings, Sculpture and Prints by Mark Renner
October 1-31, 2011
Opening Reception : Friday October 7, ( 6:00 -9:00 PM )

Fort Worth Community Art Center
1300 Gendy
Fort Worth , TX
76107
817.298.3021

Honey From The Salty Sea

Settled in, back from a goat trail through the deeper south-Mississippi, Florida, New Orleans, Alabama, San Antonio.Gathered some interesting field recordings and alligator roadkill sightings. Readying for months of exile in the flame of a Texas summer. A measure of patience required. . .

My Father The Archipelago

They say- "No man is an island." Alright then . . .

A recent lino-cut, freshly printed.

Temperate Grasslands

Gratefully, a strong season of fertile ideas and vision. Pushing away from the conventionally heroic , seeking another language away from the reliable antecedents.
A recent painting.

Getting Where You Need To Go

Leaving in the early, bound for the city of Houston. A recent painting selected as a finalist for the 2011 Hunting Art Prize, the transplanted British painting award and largest current monetary prize in the United States.Exhibition,Gala and highway to negotiate.

Juggling more canvas on the easel than I can count at the moment. trying to budget some days in the first week of May to run a series of prints completed in a recent return to Baltimore.Time is a gift. . .

Bits Of Paper

Springtime. Lilacs, Lavender spilling over the top of the fence. I am reminded of the Kenneth Graeme intro to the golden. pastoral days of Mole and Ratty in Wind in the Willows. . .
A small slice of this year's Ethiopian sketch book. . .

All Manner Of Things

One of my grandfather's most repeated phrases was - " Be Still ."  He was an orderly man, adamantine in his approach to his daily structure. I always noticed the manner in which he would grab his pants at the crease just above his knees and slightly raise them as he sat down.Toast and marmalade in the morning, soft butter. Newspaper, hat and scarf .Vests. Long periods of silence and a novelist's eye for a yarn .

     
There is a point we seldom recognize in our own fast flying days, when our own routine and perculiarities become the framework of daily living. In approaching painting, I am not always certain if this is a good thing . Repeating oneself, or relying on the comfortable and familiar will eventually extinguish. There but for the grace of God go I . . .

Off to Addis Ababa this week, sketchbooks in tow. Unless the powers that be at customs decide they want to retain some drawings for themselves, I will post some sketchbook pages upon returning.

The Boatman Is Waiting

Returning from New York, New Jersey, Baltimore . From the tall Brooklyn brownstones, to the sleepy cornfields of Egg Harbor,down to the old quarters of Arcadia, this winter certainly has it's captives. The frozen landscapes and cities look as if they will remain that way for some time to come.

Paintings in progress - a knot of humanity on the edges of some plangent terrain. A few new ideas to explore from some random sketches. Prints to run. The ox is in the furrow, for certain .

A quick few weeks before departing for Ethiopia.

Ground To Cover

"The winds must come from somewhere when they blow,

 There must be reasons why the leaves decay;

Time will say nothing but I told you so . . ."

                                                                     - Wystan Hugh Auden 

The calendar turns, and sifting through the flotsam of another

annum, tactical plans are floated for the river ahead. Atlanta

Juried Printmaking Exhibition in January, returning to Ethiopia in

February, and a busy run through October - (announcement to

follow. . .)