This is a preliminary drawing of a comprehensive list of images that represent my autistic brother, Mike, and my relationship with him. Included in such a compendium would be some of his unique hand gestures and postures, visual characteristics such as his mis-aligned eye, some kind of visualization of communication, and other symbols, not yet […]
The past couple of years have enveloped me in a strange web: loss of a loved one; COVID isolation; loss of place, having relocated twice; and change in self identity as I am about to enter my 7th decade. I show the image below as one of a series of abstract portraits of Mike, who, […]
In the study below, I used a collection of icons that represent my brother Mike* and me. I’ve also been looking at some of the line drawings of Paul Klee, and marveling at, not only their simplicity, but their flawless placement on the paper. I think this piece stands on its own but I don’t […]
I’m always thinking about how to portray abstract figures that tell stories. I continually think of Paul Klee’s work and try to imagine placing rounded heads with geometric features; angular, querying block heads among tweeting birds; or stick figures in some kind of Rube Goldberg invention, in a variegated, muted, textured background. Of course I […]
Today I tried to combine story telling with iconography, as the Bauhaus Master, Paul Klee did. However, as I understand the art of Klee, he had very few preconceptions of the final outcome of his painting. He would take his pencil point ‘for a walk’ and let his creativity guide him. His astute design sense […]
I love opening a new block of watercolor paper. When I opened one today I had a nice surprise. Usually, there is printing all over the black paper that protects the first sheet of paper in the block. Today’s sheet was completely black – no writing at all. It was perfect for my composition. A word […]
I’m beginning to relax a bit with my painting. Instead of trying to paint like Joan Miró, I am concentrating on my own iconography (see Narrative or Portrayal of Feelings?, Little Thought Experiment, Simplify, Beginning of an Iconography?). My younger brother is a wonderful musician. He is working on a Rachmaninoff piece, and told me […]
For the past several posts I have been revisiting my enjoyment of Joan Miró. I do this with an ulterior motive: to explore his means of creation and apply them to my own ideas. Lately I am particularly intrigued by The Beautiful Bird Revealing the Unknown to a Pair of Lovers, one of his ‘Constellation’ series. I […]
Reexamining old photos I’ve been looking through my old photos with the idea of finding expressive and meaningful hand gestures. The photo below is a frame from one of the home movies that my father must have taken. We were on vacation in the late 1950s or early 1960s. I’m pretty sure of the date […]
