The White of Old Bones

Intimate Communication Series, collage, 6 inches by 6 inches, by Leslie Avon Miller

So, for about the forth or fifth time, I am working on a White Series. Now let me tell you, this isn’t easy. That’s why I’m still working on it. White is a color, but as colors go, it isn’t very extroverted, like red or even introverted, like blue. It is actually quite neutral. Kind of like the kid in school who was always okay but never excelled at anything; until he went away to college and became an engineer. Or the girl, who hitchhiked to Los Angeles, took off her braces, got beautiful and became an actress. When they show up at the class reunion, people say “wow!” White is like that. Quiet, unassuming and blended into the background. Until it finds the right setting, with the right cast of supporting actors, and then, well, something beautiful happens.

Whites in all shades of warm butter or gray misty fog, or blue toned sandy seaside, the white of winter drifted snows, the color of old bones; those whites can sing in three part harmony. Those whites mixed together are like a surprise gift wrapped in tissue paper. And that’s what I am seeking and striving to create. And I am also looking to get a little funky kind of thing going with a personal language of symbols, marks and layers of texture. I want to create contrast that accentuates what’s happening, but remains true to the beauty of white, like old world marble which is white but all those other colors too.

I have been reading Wolf Kahn again. What rings true for me is Wolf speaking about the artist expressing unique, particular perceptions. He said “the intimacy of his personal relationship to the work at hand has to remain inviolate.” The White Series keeps calling me back again and again, like a spiral. So here I go again. It’s going to be fun, engaging and challenging work. What could be better than that?

Exaggerate Something

I had a great day in the studio Saturday. It was fun. I did texture work all day. I started to think of it as an archeological dig, a process of discovery. I really am a process painter. I went out there with general ideas, and a desire. But it was the process of doing that became the inspiration. I keep a notebook close by to jot notes about my thoughts; sometimes words that might become a title, ideas about where I am going with the work and what I am trying to say. So I thought about archeology, excavation and layering. I thought about digging things up, altered forever by the burial process, and the unearthing process. I thought about how each thing, and each one of us, is affected by the conditions around it or around us. I thought about time. And I responded to what was happening on the painting surface.

At times when my art is feeling stuck I do keep notes, a rough journal of sorts. I read in my journal about how I want to use shape. I write about shapes. But what I do make is texture. Then I read in my notes something from artist Wolf Kahn. He said Exaggerate Something. Ah, yes. For right now, I’m going with my flow. I’m exaggerating texture. It was a lot of fun!

By the way, Wolf Kahn is an oil painter and a pastel painter. He uses lots of color, and he paints primarily slightly abstracted, simplified barns, foliage and landscapes. This would seem to be so very different than my own work, which it is. You might wonder why I would be enamored of his work. What I love about Wolf Kahn is that he is so very, very good at what he does. I love to look at the exquisite mastery of his work. A Wolf Kahn barn is a barn like no other. He does use great texture in his work. And I love to read his words, which are kind and down to earth.

“The practice of art should have an effect not only on the public, but even more importantly, on the artist himself, by enlarging his sphere of freedom. Once this is understood and becomes a profound part of artistic practice, the problem of being a mere manufacturer of expensive objects disappears; pictures are justifiable because they are steps in their maker’s artistic development. Each picture is valuable only insofar as it contributes to this development, because it enables the artist to go on in a freer, larger way to his next picture.”

I have two books on Wolf Kahn; Wolf Kahn’s America, An Artist’s Travels. Paintings, Pastels, and Text by Wolf Kahn and Wolf Kahn Pastels, the source of the above quote. This book is full of advice to artists, but in a relaxed manner. I think its time for me to re-read these yummy, visually appealing books. And I do love his use of orange and turquoise…..

These photos are of textures in process, and another small collage.