Paul Klee meets Little Kitty

Almost ten years ago, I happily reconnected with a childhood classmate who, When She Grew Up, became an award-winning photographer.  When she viewed the early paintings I was doing at that time -- like "Driftwood Pieces" (2003) above -- she said, "These look like 'Paul Klee meets Ansel Adams'".  Oh, if only that were so...!  I've continued to hold this fascinating thought as a long-term goal to achieve.

But first, Paul Klee has someone else on his social calendar.

It happened like this: My oldest friend sent a photo of Little Kitty in the arms of her tiny granddaughter (the one we thought might turn out to be "Alanna" but arrived to announce she'd chosen her own perfect name, thank you very much). Then, within the week, I happened to see a handmade street sign, about 2' x 3', that looked something like this:

Ta tum ...a convergence! The two images together suddenly reminded me of a sketchbook note I'd made when I first saw a reproduction of Klee's painting, "Arab Song" (sometimes called "Arabian Song.")

Go ahead -- view it yourself  and see if I'm not right: "Looks like a cat."

So how could I resist?...with warm thoughts of old friends and their grandchildren, I had to explore the "spin-off" -- with the cats in our household suggesting the wink (if not a pronounced rolling of eyes).

The more I think about all of this, the more I'm convinced that Little Kitty is a spiritual descendent of Paul Klee's creations.

Cucurbits 2012 - four months later

 

Just because our family life was in total upheaval for most of last year, there was no excuse -- once landed in our new place -- to forego my annual cucurbit fixation. (Check here for my earlier post on this theme if you're unfamiliar with my seasonal compulsion and/or don't know what a cucurbit is).

We displayed September 2012's offerings for a few months until they began to age, and I decided I'd better get painting. For only the second time ever, I decided I'd paint on canvas -- a commercially mounted piece measuring 1 foot x 2 feet.

The set-up, then, would need to be a long horizontal -- and thus "Last Season's Line-Up" was conceived.

I realized I'd need to make a scaled study to fit things into this format, and doing that exercise contributed some additional working ideas. For the study, I used a small panel that had been used for a previous study and then haphazardly covered with yellow and an emerald green crisscross.

As soon as I got started, I liked the effect of the base colours staying visible in places and the crisscross as an anchor to the composition, and I deliberately left them somewhat intact as I finished the study.

Then I set myself the challenge of preserving these two elements in the painting itself.  I started building the painting with obvious diagonal strokes -- unsure where this would lead me, but holding to the counsel of one of my mentors: "You must take great risks!" You can follow the progression here.

Here's the outcome, "Last Season's Line-Up", copyright 2013 -- another year of cucurbit pleasures!