time for returning

In less than two weeks I will be returning to Ethiopia to work with a medical missionary project in that nation's capitol . This will be my fourth visit , and with each subsequent return there is a vast reminder of the tremendous suffering and disparity between our two realms . For most , the daily struggle for survival eclipses the notion of hopes and plans , which may be poverty's cruelest symptom .
I anticipate joyful reunions and as ever , the loved and unlovely sights and odors , noise and music , smiles and tears of Addis Ababa's urban carnival . It is an invasion of the senses , and I have collected many sights and details in sketchbooks over the years . ( many should be made available in a forthcoming monograph )

The image is a large lino-print based on the life of the biblical prophet Jeremiah

Considering

Through a series of astounding events , I find myself shifting slowly to another part of the country . Still getting my bearings , finding my way , I confess some hesitancy ... wondering if I will stir some quiescent regard for a vastly different region .

Where there is life , I will likely find inspiration . . .

This a study on panel I am pushing to complete . . .

2009 . Good days ahead . . .

The Deserters

This is from a forthcoming exhibition , mentioned before in this journal - The Deserters .

Worker

This study is from several years ago . I attempted to reflect the strain of the industrial worker , in a realm that frequently denied him emotions. At the time , a large portion of the population in the section of town where I had just moved , toiled and made their livings in the furnaces , factories , and docklands . It was a river many thought would never run dry .

Open Sky

The morning spent on time - draining technical matters , I was pushing to return to some panels and canvas paper that has beckoned for several days . A quiet house , steady rain , the hint of autumn , and the arrival of new ideas combine for more than enough inspiration to get cracking . , . This sketch is for a painting in a series I have provisionally titled "The Deserters " . They are sojourners . Perhaps castaways , rejected yet seeking and searching . Some have taken a solitary path and others conspire . . .

Cleaning House

A few years ago I had my room burgled in Glasgow . I had two large sketch books taken , along with my passport . I suppose the thief had no interest beyond the sketchbooks , since he left this acrylic study behind .

September again . . .

stepping lightly into this realm . . . for the time being , a format for posting completed and unfolding work and ideas . . .