A Sponge and a Rag

That's how it starts. Where it goes from here I haven't a clue? I just put on the music and sponge, wipe, and wash out as the beat moves me. It's the most fun in the world. And good exercise too. Never still for a moment, there's no time to think. Thinking makes for bad paintings.

This is the start of "From Here to There",a working title for the painting inspired by the photo I took the other day of my backyard. I liked the monochromatic blueness of the photo--but I'll see how much as the painting progresses.(A little color is creeping in already). Rags and sponges are great to use in place of brushes--as are fingers and palms. They allow only broad strokes; there's no getting sidetracked by picky details.



Today, I plan to finally see Richard Avedon's fashion photography from 1944 -2000, Government Support for the Arts: WPA prints from the 1930s, and the Neighborhood Project,created by Mitch Cope and Gina Reichert, aka Design 99, which is about integrating art and design into rethinking and the rebuilding of neighborhoods, the three exhibits at our magnificently renovated (by Michael Graves) Detroit Institute of Arts.
I'm especially interested in the drawings/prints of the WPA and art and design in neighborhood renovation, being a designer in the renovation business myself. With our population falling to approximately 700,000, Detroit is in need of downsizing and a redesign for quite some time.