Breaking Gravity
In which Sarah talks about a new painting, the passing of a music legend, new books, and (almost) avoids mentioning the election.
Many of my ideas for paintings start with an image I see before falling asleep, or while I’m in the twilight state between sleeping and waking. These semi dream-state visions probably arise as subconscious metaphors for something I experienced or saw in the previous few days. Sometimes I have a clear idea about the story of a new painting, or at least it’s title. Other times, I just forge ahead knowing the meanings and titles will come on their own eventually.
In this case, I had an image of a fish jumping out of water with the phrase “Breaking Gravity” in my mind, meaning to rise above oppressive forces, however that may be interpreted.
I started the painting, imagining a fish leaping into the sky. The fish went through a couple of changes, at one point jumping out of water, at another jumping out of a landscape with houses. As I worked on the idea, the fish changed several times too, a bit more eel, then a bit more bass. I finally arrived at the body and coloration of a rainbow trout.
After another night’s sleep, I saw the fish again, but this time it had legs. Sidebar: it’s funny that when we think of mermaids it’s always the top that’s human. Same with centaurs. We never think of a person’s legs and torso with horse head... But, anyway, this fish now had legs. So, when I got up the next day, I removed the tail, added the legs, and it felt right. The rest started tumbling into place with the waves, strange ciphers and embellished cloud forms.
I believe all human creativity is connected to collective unconscious symbols, ancestral memories and mythologies, but I want people who look at my paintings to draw from their own ancestral memories to find meanings that resonate for them.
That’s why I was truly delighted when a Chinese friend of mine visited and, looking at this new painting said, “ah! This is a transformation painting like the story of KunPeng!” I said I was unfamiliar with this story, and she explained the Chinese parable of a huge fish (K’un) that rises out of the ocean and transforms into an enormous bird (P’eng). That’s the great thing about art, it transcends all boundaries, speaks all languages and can tell many stories.
And, a lot of my paintings are about change, growth and transformation so it was marvelous (to me) that she channeled that right away.
What story do you see in “Breaking Gravity”?
Breaking Gravity, 16” x 20” oil on cradled wood. Available on my website.
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The tail end:
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Listening:
Today music titan (producer, songwriter, composer and on and on) “broke gravity” and headed to the great symphony hall in the sky. Jones produced so many great albums including Michael Jackson’s “Thriller”, The Brothers Johnson “Light up the Night” and soundtracks for The Wiz, Suicide Squad and the Color Purple, to name just a few. So, my studio listening list today is the Quincy Jones’ album catalogue, starting with:
Q’s Juke Joint (with various artists)
LA is my Lady (with Sinatra)
Mellow Madness (with Bros Johnson, Minnie Riperton, others)
Reading:
I just finished New Michael Connelly’s latest, The Waiting. I am a Connelly fan, and this book is easily one of his best.
The latest T. Kingfisher novel, What Feasts at Night, the follow up to What Moves the Dead. Light folkloric horror, short, but an engaging afternoon read. I finished it in a couple of hours.
And I’m reading a lot of poems about America
Watching:
We (Lee and I) went to see the new “Saturday Night” movie, directed by Jason Reitman. If you are old enough to be an SNL original watcher you will enjoy seeing the coming together of Episode 1, of SNL. As a person who has worked on film and television projects where camera is rolling on set in one hour and nothing is finished yet, I felt a bit of anxiety about whether they would pull it off. Of course they did, we know this. But still the fast pace and wit keeps the story moving along. After watching the film, we rewatched the 1st episode of SNL (available on YouTube.) The film is much better, lol. (That overly long Muppets scene…🙄) But they make good back-to-back viewing.
Until next time… ☮️ … and vote!
Breaking Gravity is a work to be pondered, the inspiration to hope amid recent disappointment. Personally, art, music, and artist’s musings are all that is keeping me sane. I find it interesting and very encouraging to see so many artists sharing their thoughts and struggles. Glen just wrote a song called “A Patch of Blue” with a similar point of view. Thanks for sharing. I have to catch up on reading some newsletters that I have missed.
body surfing is great, everyone's interpretations of art are different, reflecting our own ways of seeing the world. Surf on!