The following 8 works were begun out of doors in St. John, Virgin Islands. I’ve been home in New York State for the month of March, working in the studio to complete these Caribbean paintings. The title of each work includes the date that the work was begun, the temperature of the moment, the latitude [...]
I’ve been painting on the beach using a church barbecue shed for a studio, which I occasionally share with a herd of goats that wander freely across the island. One afternoon I heard a loud sizzle and crack, and looked toward the highway from which the noise came. A white pick-up truck stopped in the [...]
On Friday, February 15 I walked to Drunk Bay early in the morning before the sun showed itself. Drunk Bay on the island of St. John faces east and lies on the 18th parallel of latitude not far from the Tropic of Cancer, that imaginary ring around the earth which marks the most northerly latitude [...]
Once I made a drawing using the phrase, “Total and complete fucking failure”, which was repeated in neat lines, over and over, until the page was completely filled. Oddly, the drawing was a minor success since the combination of the self-negating phrase with the grim determination to fill the page was comic. But sometimes projects [...]
The following 9 works were created out of doors in St. John, Virgin Islands. The title of each painting includes the date that the work was begun, the temperature of the moment, the latitude and longitude of the place, and a verbal description of the subject that motivated the painting. “January 8, 2008. 75° F, [...]
Round Bay is a tranquil scoop of sand and sea that is fringed with reefs. After a morning of painting in nearby Haulover Bay, I occasionally put on a mask and flippers and go for a swim there. Even though it is not a risky sport, or one that takes any skill, snorkeling is a [...]
About 25 years ago I visited with Leon Golub in his studio, when he was painting his great “Mercenary” series. Standing in front of gigantic men of war, we fell into a conversation about the unusual painting process he had developed. After drawing the rapacious figures and giving them heft with broadly defined areas of [...]
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Posted 22 January 2008
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Tagged: Coral Bay, embrace, Haulover Bay, Leon Golub, making art, Mercenary, palette, process of making, response, sea grape, skyscape, stimulus, undulate, violence
Christian goes belly down on the ledge, cups a little fresh water in his hand and splashes the design carved in the rock. Fresh water pools are rare in the Virgin Islands, so animals and people have been congregating here forever. Christian wets the rock again and runs his index finger around the grooves. He [...]
On New Year’s Day as the temperature and the snow dropped on New England, I arrived in St. John, Virgin Islands, and began to fret. The temperature here is perfect. The sea is thrillingly blue and the beach is bone bright. I’m living in a house that clings to the side of Mt. Bordeaux, the [...]
