Saturday 15 June 2008-  Whether an artist is trying to accommodate a dealer or a collector, the resulting effort is liable to steal time and energy from the work one is really called to do.  If one is intent on selling work, at best, there is some degree of tension between the requirements of the market and the directives of one's inner vision.  As Willa Cather said, "A way that is right for one is seldom right for two."
  The way right for me began as a painter for twenty years, then another twenty as a reductive sculptor, carving wood.  The past ten years have been occupied primarily making "constructions", assemblages of mostly found objects.  With luck, I'll have another ten or  fifteen years to gather up all the loose ends, which is just a little while.  I'll be done before I know it.

  Monday 23 June 2008- Walked with my wife and daughter (and our good dog, Simon) from the North Saluda River in Jones Gap up to Rainbow Falls on Cox Camp Creek, on the North Carolina/South Carolina state line.  It's a little over two miles from the parking area at Jones Gap State Park, and during that distance, the trail climbs about a thousand feet, but it is well worth the climb.  The falls drop a hundred feet from the cliff above, with a splendid cascade below.  The walk is demanding for an old man without becoming discouraging.  Next time, I'll pack a lunch.

  Saturday 28 June 2008-  Constructions:  Last year I made a conscious attempt to deconstruct the traditional rectangular shape associated with wall-mounted art.  More compelling for me now is a desire to deconstruct the plane of the wall on which the work is mounted.  Most "wall art" more or less conforms to the plane of the wall on which it hangs.  I want to break up the plane of the work itself so that it appears to advance and recede beyond the plane of the wall behind it.  The purpose of this is to make something that functions like an icon, becomes a "window"  opening through and beyond the boundaries of our familiar space, allowing us to sense something of the Shape that contains the void.

  Monday 30 June 2008-  After wrecking my back last week, I've kept pretty close to home- until today, when my daughter Kate and I walked up Jones Gap to Jones Gap Falls.  It helped loosen some still stiff muscles, and gave me a sense of being back in the real world again.
  The falls are small, further reduced now by our continuing drought, but even so, offer a cool and sheltered nook, where a tired old man can sit in silence with a beloved soul and listen as the water tells the secrets of the mountain.  The ancient Celts believed places like persons are contained by everliving souls.  Places like persons retain deep within their matrix the memories of their making, which can become a comfort, or a terror, to all who come in contact with them.

  Tuesday 1 July 2008-  There has always been a snake in the garden, and it has never been the snake's job to look after us.  It is our job, given to us by our Maker, to be ever watchful for the snake.  To take care for a creature that is incapable of having your best interest at heart is a high virtue, and from time to time a needful strategy for survival.

  Friday 4 July 2008-  While I'm waiting on my hip and back to mend (my left leg still isn't working exactly right, and trying to lift more than fifteen or twenty pounds becomes problematic in a hurry) I'm working on an assortment of small pieces.  Some of these are more or less maquettes for larger works I hope to be able to tackle before the summer's done.  Some of these are ideas I had gotten fired up about over the winter, then set aside, drawn off by the expectations of dealers and prospective clients.
  There is something to be said for being brought down in mid flight, and forced to sit still for a little spell while you take a fresh look at all that's been happening in your days.  A great deal of it turns out to be none of yours at all.  I seem to be needing more of this sort of lessons of late.  There isn't much future in living other people's lives.  The most important thing in the world may not be the most important for you.

ABOVE:
"Africa"
wood, stone, shells, okra pods, found objects, acrylic
9 x 9 x 3 in.