the contemplation of time

My Residency at Chateaux d’Orquevaux begins in 6 months, 20 days, and I will be leaving for France in 6 months, 11 days.

I turn 43 in 21 days and am having my third exhibition at INDUSTRY in just 18 days.

Exhibition “3” on 12.1.23 begins at 7pm – Industry, 344 New York Avenue, Huntington, NY 11743

There’s a lot to do before my upcoming exhibition, and even more to do before I leave for France. There is very little to do before I turn 43, though I am considering buying a new suit.

It feels like much longer, but this December will be just 2 years since I began painting. Exhibition “3” is being designed as a sort of “retrospective” experience of everything I’ve painted in the last two years, not including the dozen or so paintings that I’ve sold.

As I prepare for this show and look upon the many paintings I have finished, I am overcome by a mix of accomplishment and confusion. When I introduce myself as a painter and tell someone that I only began painting two years ago, I am met with an understandable surprise. While it has only been two years, I feel as though I have been painting for far longer.

Much like the walls of INDUSTRY which you either know or will see; the subject matter, the styles, and techniques of my work thus far is somewhat of a mishmash. As I have said previously, my paintings have been a constancy of experimentation. As it was with my studies of Gemology, I allowed myself to become obsessed with painting, learning as much as I could via reading, asking questions, watching others, attempting this and attempting that, and learning from my failures. I have explored various techniques and oil mediums, and have spent many, many late nights staring at the unfinished paintings deep in contemplation over what to do next, and at the same time working up the nerve to just do it and see what happens. Compared to any other artistic or intellectual study that I have consumed my time with, I have learned far more valuable lessons from painting.

I am not going to France with much of a plan in mind for what I want to paint, though I have visions of HOW I want to paint. This too will be experimentation, but one with more confidence. My friends know how excited I am for both my exhibition at Industry, and for my great adventure to France, but to be honest, I am looking forward to my exhibition being over, to being 43, and to seeing what the 6 months before I leave for France will hold for painting, learning, and life in general.