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All posts for the month July, 2011

The Ground I Walk On

Published July 20, 2011 by rlmcdermott

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 Outside a toddler has run away from its father, a dog is barking,  the neighborhood kids have decided to use my stoop for a skateboard ramp again, and the man upstairs is sawing women in half (at least it sounds that way).  My kitchen/studio is a mess–ink is everywhere!  Possessed by the idea of these landscapes; I’ve prepared six new grounds.  It’s interesting that the word artists use for the canvas or the paper they work on is ground.  Well, I’ve been grounded today and I’m wondering where these six pieces of watercolor paper will take me–down what road.  Hopefully, a paper road with lots of trees and a few flowers.  Did you notice; I finally figured out how to do a slideshow?

How can you improve as an artist if you don’t do your homework, or Oh My God I have class tomorrow and I haven’t done a thing!

Published July 19, 2011 by rlmcdermott

This is the last in a series of experimental landscapes started a month ago (I think that’s how long I’ve been in class).   I’ve been taking Voice and Vision with Pam Lanza and have yet to complete one homework assignment.  Was I like this in grammar school?  Yes!  Was I like this in high school?  Yes!   Was I like this in college?  Yes!  Was I like this in graduate school? Yes!  Well, then how did I ever graduate grammar school, high school, college, and (what) graduate school?  Can’t tell you–but I did.   I’m a major nonconformist.  I use to tell people that “I listened to a different drummer” but had to give that up when someone told me “You listen to a different band.”   I walked backward for a whole year when I was a kid just because I wanted to be different.  The worse thing you can tell me is this is “the homework for next week.”  Now, Pam’s a great teacher and a very reasonable person but she must scratch her head when she sees me coming (most people do).   Perhaps that streak of contrariness that seems to percolate inside me is why I started this whole paper drawing thing.  Who draws with paper?  It’s not collage, at least I don’t consider it collage, and these aren’t really landscapes.   When I think of landscape I think of cows being dragged into a field by a buxom milk maid; or shepherds lounging on a hill with a stalks of wheat hanging from their mouths.  What kind of place has paper trees, purple leaves, trails that go off into space–certainly not California (well not that I’ve seen at least.)  Yet, here they are four landscapes that should have been four completed homework assignments, four paper drawings that should have had text embedded somewhere in their bent tree trunks.    I guess I should count my blessings–at least there aren’t buxom backward milk maids dragging their cattle into purple fields or shepherds  standing on their heads with stalks of wheat shoved up their you know what!   Wait a minute–what a great idea for a series!