A Painter's JournalA Painter's JournalDaily painting, essays, journaling and etchings by Michael S. Parkes, artist and writer in Eastern Washington. Capturing a daily inspirational thought, reflecting on the process of life itself, expressing a new vision for human existence 
Articles
A wasted hour and one piece of masonite later
2008-02-07 04:59:00 So I go out at lunch today to paint, wanted to work somwhere around 1st avenue where I liked some of these old buildings. The feel of decay in the air, old, crumbling walls and such. Began a painting looking at the front of the Otis hotel, and just keep glazing and overpainting, I have ... More About: Painting , One Piece , Wasted , Hour , Piece
The dust and the detail
2008-02-06 14:09:00 There is no accomplishment, no purpose that we might call purpose. I think at some point (or maybe this is a growing awareness, with no specific point), you come to terms with the efforts of your hands. You paint and stop trying to see beyond that one moment, or see paths, or understand overarching purpose. My ...
An inevitable art
2008-02-06 05:17:00 With the passing days I come to understand art more and more as process, a process which embodies a kind of inevitability which one is advised to accept. Some of my paintings recently seem to pose more questions that they answer, but I am learning to accept them as they are, rather then critique and ... More About: Painting
Watching snowflakes fall
2008-02-04 15:52:00 I love to speculate. I know a lot of my words seem anchorless and unhinged from the solid assumptions I crave. But what else can you do? Pretend they aren’t there? Force yourself into cookie-cutter pretentiousness, trying to “be” when ‘being’ as your moments came and washed over your soul was all that you were. If ... More About: Watching , Fall
That enchanted displacement
2008-02-04 05:09:00 Life is calming down after last week’s power outage. I was finally able to walk outside and begin a study of these bushes in front of our home. I have watched these bushes for weeks, waiting to paint them. I guess today was their day. I can’t say that it matters that much anymore (a slavish ... More About: Enchanted
Steel imaginations
2008-02-02 03:08:00 Power restored today. I was actually a little sad once it came back on, in some way the experience of making do without it was liberating. Being disconnected from the grid seemed to add substance to my present feelings of weakness, helpless abandon. Perhaps this weekend I can return to the paths of expression, no longer ... More About: Steel
Powerless
2008-01-31 14:05:00 More snow. This one sounds worse than the others, strong winds, temps around freezing so it will be a mess in the morning. And still out of power. Inland says power back by the weekend as long as there is no more problems from snow. I keep thinking about the weakness of art, which is the ...
Frail and tender
2008-01-29 13:05:00 Still out of power. Certainly places life in a different perspective, as you move into more of a survival mode. Art is pushed back into the background, but never really leaves. More About: Tender
Painting like a zombie
2008-01-28 13:01:00 This has been the most beautiful time. Even though I have not been able to paint due to being out of power and just having to deal with the necessities of life, I somehow feel even closer to a true and sincere art. Yesterday, painting from our bathroom window, looking out over the fields. I just ... More About: Painting , Zombie
Memory
2008-01-27 05:04:00 Not sure what to try today. I feel so empty, I gaze into middle distance and just wonder. Memories, I thought about memories yesterday and how they help us, destroy us. it seems that life is built on memories, and creative acts rest on so many memories that torment us. More About: Memory
In the dark
2008-01-26 12:00:00 Power outage. Writing this in the dark. Lost power during the night, a very heavy snow has caused a lot of downed lines in the area south of Spokane. At least my laptop works as long as the battery holds out. What a week, work has been stressful, and my painting has been difficult. Interruptions, loss of ... More About: Dark , The Dark
It all comes out in the paint
2008-01-25 00:35:00 Amidst the frustrations and doubts, anxiousness, I know that if the paint is allowed to be the medium to release these emotions, then the work will benefit. Somehow it all goes into the paint. You have doubts about the value of your efforts, so many forces that try and rip the brush out of your ... More About: Paint
Catching up
2008-01-24 14:06:00 I think at some point you have to “catch up” with yourself. Understand that each touch is what it wanted to be, there is no control or forcing of expression. Our lives are cutting across a razor edge called now. There are no yesterday’s, no tomorrows. Creation takes place in the split instant of present ...
Nameless obsessions
2008-01-24 02:09:00 The painting I did today… so pathetically weak and obscure… vague… uncertain, the angles are not correct, the shapes are formless and intentionally obliterated… my streetlamp gone… nothing but remnants of thoughts, fragments of intentions, nameless obsessions. How is it we choose one scene, one setting and not another? I had driven around today and ... More About: Painting , Mele
Architects
2008-01-23 15:15:00 A painting of an architect’s office from yesterday. I seem to keep bumping into architects while out painting. I was approached by one of the owners of this place while out painting last week, and he mentioned their office down the street as good subject matter. I did learn one thing from yesterday, I don’t think ... More About: Painting , Architects
Plodding through life
2008-01-22 14:14:00 Up early again. I don’t know why I get u so early, I make coffee and set to writing… it is nice though, the house so quiet and the darkness, the calm. Thermometer says 3 deg outside. So, on we go. Each day reveals a little something more, although at times I feel as though I ... More About: Life , Painting
She is innocent
2008-01-21 15:41:00 I thought today about our creative side, our childlike innocence at play, knowing nothing but moments and passion and color and delight. I thought of her, and I realized she is so innocent of any wrong! Perfectly at peace with all things, with her world, with herself. But she isn’t alone. She is carried about by ... More About: Painting , Spiritual , Innocent
I watched my daughter paint
2008-01-20 13:30:00 I wonder if I’ll every get away from the pressure to make artwork “good”. I watched my young daughter painting yesterday and she was so proud of everything she did. In her mind they’re all “good”. But for us, painting always carries with it the possibility of making something bad. I love to paint, or ... More About: Painting , Daughter , Paint
The calling above
2008-01-19 03:55:00 I think the painting of pictures must be a way of seeing into the marrow of life. These works speak in ways that I don’t think we quite understand yet. Perhaps in spiritual ways, a blending of the divine and the described. It is how I feel as I paint, it is almost a sacrament ... More About: The Calling , Calling
Make a bad painting
2008-01-18 14:22:00 Dark and quiet this morning. Had to work on some web stuff for Mark, but now that’s done and my heart can turn back to the art and writing. Surprisingly enough that little painting from yesterday has sparked some new ideas… I think I begin to understand that every corner of a scene offers a ... More About: Painting , Make
?Not much there?, she said
2008-01-18 05:10:00 Went out today at lunch and set up along Sprague across from the Davenport. I had wanted to do a study of reflections in one of the store front windows, but something dissuaded me into just doing a sidewalk study. I like the way this crunchy brown leafed little tree was framed in the view. ... More About: Painting
Like something the cat drug in
2008-01-17 15:47:00 Wasn’t able to accomplish anything yesterday, just too many other annoyances crowding out what little time there is to paint. Tough to get anything done during the week, a short lunch break and if I miss that window of opportunity, it’s usually over for the day. Could do still life or more portraits of ... More About: Drug
A marriage of spirit and earth
2008-01-16 11:13:00 This is from yesterday, I can’t seem to stay away from the buildings downtown. Monoliths above, that have us boxed in, and below the little cars, and the people, with such determination in their faces. Some walk by and look at what I am doing, most just hurry by, tuning out the irrelevant details along ... More About: Marriage , Earth , Painting , Spirit
A scary parking garage
2008-01-15 16:13:00 I drove out yesterday at lunch, headed up Stevens, looking… looking… for what? Some chance assortment of colors and shapes? I will sometimes find a parking spot, whip in and then get out look around, but I am never sure exactly what it is I am seeking. Maybe there is some part of us that ... More About: Garage , Parking , Painting , Scary
The hidden forms
2008-01-14 13:15:00 Stared out yesterday back at the little bridge near Widman’s farm. This is a nice spot, really gorgeous trees and the little creek winding through it all. The only challenge is the traffic, surprising for such a small 2 lane road in the middle of nowhere. Maybe better to stay back in the woods. Painted this ... More About: Painting , Hidden , Forms
The horror of style
2008-01-13 16:08:00 How is it that art has become so stylized? As if the expression can be reduced to the allure of technique. I tend not to like looking at other artist’s work as I am then facing the technical facility and it seems to create more troubles for me. I come away thinking, “Oh if I ... More About: Horror , Style
What is missing can be trusted
2008-01-10 13:01:00 2 a.m., up early, waiting for this next band of snow to come in. Not much to do but write… I imagined peering over the edge of creation and beholding a chasm, depths of yet more creation. Unknown spheres, cascading and rolling over themselves. I sometimes have the sense that this life is but one of ... More About: Missing , Missi
Inevitable, beautiful desires
2008-01-10 03:02:00 Coming away from this little painting today, I was struck with the thought of how a feeling is all a painter is trying to convey. It is not about bricks and asphalt and cars and skies… these are simply a reference, a common vocabulary that we all share… and so adopting this common book of ... More About: Painting , Beautiful
Paths in the snow
2008-01-09 19:51:00 Driving home last night in the snow. I began to notice how the snow obscures the road, and we begin to depend on the last driver’s tracks to provide guidance as to where the lane really is. If that initial driver makes a mistake and takes the lane over too far one way or the ... More About: Snow , Path
The guidance of unnoticed feelings
More articles from this author:2008-01-09 16:07:00 Here is a painting I did yesterday, looking south along Boone, toward the Parkade. I am realizing that scenes dictate their own “way” of being noticed. It is like you will be painting along, capturing what you need to, and then after a bit you realize, Hmm… I completely overlooked this one area, this one ... More About: Painting , Feelings 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 |
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