Saturday, July 27, 2013

Cultivation

Cultivation, oil on canvas board, 16x20
                                In the future not too distant
                                I will definitely need an assistant.
 
                                In the back I'm growing one.
                                He needs water, he needs sun.
 
                                Arms are sprouting, one eye's opening.
                                He'll have a brain--that's what I'm ahoping.
 
                                When he's ripe among the rose mallow
                                 I'll probably need a large wheelbarrow.
 
I got new oil paints; it's been about thirty years since I've painted with regular oils--they're nice and buttery.  On an old primed canvas board I tried them out.  A head shape on the lower right; then what?  I thought of giving him a dog's short compact body and a long leash.  I thought of having a torso on a spring--maybe several.  Yellow rubber boots popped into my head.  Someone would be watering a planted torso; that would require a hose.  Wild rose mallows are blooming alongside my driveway so they were added along with the ivy.  Being from the South, a painting like this requires a story; I had to make one up so I made it into a poem.  (I might have watched too many Twilight Zones when I was young.)
 
There is a painting by de Chirico of a torso and yellow bananas; it's in THE ART BOOK.  I suspect that triggered the thought of yellow boots.  Today I googled de Cherico--interesting artist; I think he inspired surrealism.  I am also reminded now of Gaugin's leaves strewn around some of his portraits. 
 
A guest is arriving next weekend, an old friend who's a psychologist--I should probably keep this painting under wraps.
 
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