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Many people take notice of leaves in the fall, especially maple leaves — and more especially those that are still on the trees. What was grabbing me, though, were the leaves that had fallen already. The colors of those that had fallen face-down, stomata up, were completely arresting. So were leaves in various stages of decay. And of course, rain and hail drops were irresistable. So for the past five autumns, I've been finding myself in the woods somewhere (usually Pennsylvania), looking at a few square feet of ground, and finding that inspiring.
At the same time, having snuffed up a few decades' worth of turpentine, I was trying to shift from painting in oils to acrylics. The rapid dryng time of acrylics was a nuisance, particularly since I wanted to paint these leaves three or four times larger than life, fully modelled. By using far more retarder medium than I ever had before, and covering the palette with plastic wrap between sessions, I found a solution. I honestly don't think painting has ever been this much fun for me before.
Still, I've only managed eight paintings in almost three years. I present them here for your assessment. Actually, I don't present them here as much as at the Cornelia Street Café for the appropriate month of October. Thank you, Bob, Judith and Robin.
Somehow, I don't care that the items I've depicted are just bits of plant matter. Lord knows, there's certainly enough other material out there that revolves around people and contemporary social life. Maybe I'm just trying to supply a break from that. I like the idea of making art that would be recognizeable to Peking Man, or possibly to a fox.
But of course, I hope you 21st century humans enjoy looking at them, too! It may seem presumptuous, but I also harbor a hope that they'll affect the way you look at the real things.
Please let me know what you think.
Jim
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