The Last Tram

 

Approaching the last stop at the end of the 2012 line, looking ahead to work and ideas awaiting. December has been a stagnant month- extensive study for a book project I have been  formulating for some time. And what emerges is a need to study more and cultivate deeper convictions about what I commit/ omit from the blocks/plates.
           As seems to be a pattern, I am in various stages of completion with 3 new paintings, and bouncing back and forth between a recording I have neglected that beckons completion. Sedulity is occasionally rewarded, but at some points busy is an antipode to true progress.
 

Not Fit For Man Or Beast

 

Have recently returned from a very damp Glasgow, somewhat recharged. Above - street sketches from one of the few days of extended dryness. Stirling, and Killermont Street ...

My deepest gratitude to those who attended, and to those who purchased work from the recent  Orphans exhibition in Fort Worth , Texas. 'Twas a delight to meet so many new faces at the opening .
 

Ivy, Red Brick And Rain

A grey morning increases the backwards glances, and I am heartened by the lasting visions of the Arcadian autumns of my youth. There is no future in a memory, but I will linger there briefly this morning. Not an unduly prolonged stay,  as I continue study and research on a forthcoming project- a series of prints on the book of Jeremiah , which I am hoping to assemble and publish in the next year.
The Orphans gallery exhibition continues @ FWCAC until the end of October...
 

Dismount And Settle

For a large portion of the past  calendar year I have been working on paintings, and prints for this exhibition. In the next few weeks before the opening, between the prayers and perspiration,sleeplessness and second guessing, I will have hopefully completed in the range of 30+ new paintings and 5-10 new prints.
The opening reception will be on Friday 5, October. Alight on us and "'bide a wee while"...

 

(click on image to enlarge)

Nearer

Working on the remaining pieces for October's exhibition @ FWCAC . Reserving the last month for running prints. 

Will post details on opening - times, date etc., in the next week or so.

( Above detail from work in progress)

 

A Tender Fervor

The Collier (detail)

Sun setting, and the cicadas project a cacophony in all directions. Resolute in the efforts to complete no less than 30 new paintings for October's exhibition, the heat, as they say, is on...

The painter's equivalent to writer's block that chased me like a bloodhound through June and early July has lost the scent, and fresh ideas are returning. 

A Cask Full Of Summer

Summer begins in Texas, and unlike my first two, there is enough green on the ground to offset the cry for home and the greener pastures of the mid- Atlantic.

A brief trip to Florida last week. The city where I stayed seems to be a place where people retreat from their past lives and careers. Some might say it is a place where people come to prepare for dying. 

Painting continues for a major gallery exhibition this fall... details to follow...

Prelude To Summer

Returning from Baltimore, and the funeral of a man for whom 50 headstones would not be enough to hold a fitting epitaph, Roscoe Levi Adams. I opened the page of a Spurgeon devotional this morning, and was reminded that our earthly journey is needful for others, even when the walk seems unendurable for us to continue. "Leave Him to say when it is enough ."

Work is progressing on medium sized panels. Sketching out some new ideas eventually bound for canvas.

Above is a detail view of The Samaritans . . .

Out Of Our Few Days

 The days evanesce. Moving back and forth between one gigantic canvas and a few modest panels.

 Winter fled without a sound. The tornadoes came close. All manner of things shall be well...

A few random sketches: Addis Ababa, Dunfermline, Fort Worth. . .
  

There Are No Maps

Settling in, sifting and digesting the whole story of the return to Addis Ababa. Massive changes coming, and very hard to see how it will benefit those who have fallen beneath the wheels of progress. Amid the smoke and dust and filth of the city there are emerging signs of life, undeterred by the limits of mankind, a faith strengthened and honed by the battlefield of the living.

The above drawing is from my sketchbook.

From The Shade Into The Sun

Work in progress, on the easel where it shall remain unfinished for the next 15 days . It's off to Ethiopia. . .

        "Afflictions are often the black foils in which God sets the jewels of His children's graces, to make them shine brighter ." - C.H.Spurgeon 

Tune The Harp

Leaving for Addis Ababa this week, a return to the blessed and the scorned, always a time for self-examination and a sobering reminder of how little we know of suffering. Time permitting, I will fill the sketchbook with what captures the eye, or rents the heart.

The above print is a recent proof from earlier in the month . . .

Tarry For The Night

Finished recent canvas on the Biblical tale of Jonah ( see blurred detail above ) . It's mostly ink and paper the rest of the week as I press to run some block prints before this month expires. Faint not . . .

How Little Is Known

                                                                                                                                 

Into the days, fully armed and prepared to wrestle with the distinctive battles that come with every new canvas, blank page, sheet of linoleum, block of wood. The joy in the struggle is often overshadowed in the struggle to convey.

Thankful for the time. . .