Living Light 7/30/09

A good painting to me has always been like a friend. It keeps me company, comforts and inspires.

Hedy Lamarr
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Welcome to my studio.
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I, alas, will never see all the paintings in the world. There are millions of them. But I see as many as I can. I enjoy going to museums and galleries. I've seen thousands of art works, some excellent, some good and some terrible. But of all that I've seen my favorite is one called "The Piano Lesson" by Henri Matisse.

A young boy is seated at a Pleyel practicing (Ignaz Pleyel was the foremost piano maker before Steinway, Baldwin and Yamaha ever showed up). There's a triangular metronome on the piano. Over his right shoulder an open window with a breeze blowing the curtain. Over his left shoulder a female figure sitting on a stool with her hands folded in her lap, a teacher? his mother? the muse?

There are a few triangles in the picture which I read as the triad, the basic building block of harmony. And there are mysteries. Does the boy want to learn to play the piano, or does he want to be outside playing on this beautiful day? And who is the woman?

The Piano Lesson will always be alive for me. It lives at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City. Whenever I'm in the city, if I have time, I go and visit it. It's my friend.

When I started painting I turned out a few works that were nice, but then one day I surprised myself with a picture I call "The Blues." It's an abstract of deep grays and blues. Some might say it's a dark and somber work, but for me it's full of light. It inspires me. It shows me what art and I, as an artist, are capable of.

Whenever someone looks at my works I have to tell them that The Blues will never be for sale. It is precious to me. It talks to me every day. It's my friend.

DB - Vagabond Journeys
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Midsummer is on the way.
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