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. . .)                

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.