I started off this month intending to blog more but these lovely summer days have conspired against my efforts and so I’m just getting to a post today. Progress is continuing on Pilot #7 with all the under-painting elements finally complete. I have to say after the challenge on painting the last piece in this series, Pilot #7 has been a pure delight to work on. I think it’s because I’ve allowed a sense of play to enter this piece.
This body of work, the most monumental pieces I’ve ever attempted, is super dense, with multiple seemingly superficial layer and a subject matter that only I can see or discern. And so a sense of play – when the feeling arrives – is something I grab a hold to and embrace. On a deeper level I think I feel so good about painting this work because the drawing from which it’s based is stripped down to a simple cloudscape. As I’m writing this I’m sitting on my back porch enjoying a beer and looking over to valley to south mountain in Allentown. And I’m looking at the sky with its puffy clouds and just loving it. That’s the feeling I hope viewers take from this work when it’s complete.
The ease of painting this work additionally comes from the fact that I finally – after 7 paintings – figured out how to put a damn frame together, and so I don’t have a warped piece. You couldn’t believe how upset I was at the last work because I couldn’t get the box of the frame square. I’m also really enjoying painting those non-essential layers. The fun of knowing there are like 10 paintings beneath what people see on the surface is satisfying once again rather than being burden. I’m still not sure why I insist on these layers but I really don’t care, especially for this work. It’s just nice to be in my studio, away from my job and my other life pressures, and to just paint and work.
Here’s my progress to date on Pilot #7:
I’m still into what I call “old black man music” right now. I find that it provides for just about the most perfect early evening listening. I’ve been trying to move out of a crazy obsession with Marvin Gaye and move onto other artists. With that said I have for you today the group Atlantic Star and their hit “Send for Me”.
Well that’s it for this post. I think I’ll write more about how I plan to document and exhibit the Pilot set of works. Until then do be well.
Anthony Smith Jr. 