Landscape sketches on the beach in Maine:
The speed with which all things change in the landscape is daunting, but it establishes the game - the race, or pursuit that is painting. I’m aware of painting from memory, remembering certain colors or gestures that define time and place. All of my looking is in the past as I rush to record it. Possibly, Boudin and Constable are standing behind me, one at each shoulder, sadly shaking their heads. And sighing. -- Robin Cody
Robin is in the midst of creating a new web presence, so at this point additional work is not available to view, but please leave a comment here that you'd like to see more and I'll make sure to get you a link when the time comes! I love the sense of light in her work, the delicious paint surface and always, a sense of time and place.
What path shall we follow next month? Clearly, the thread that has connected each post in this topic of place, has been memory. But, that's just so broad, I'd like to sharpen the lens just a little bit and use this very powerful notion that Robin brought up in her statement. I'm very intrigued by this idea of looking backward, which is of course, what we do, because by the time we record and process the present moment, it has quite vanished, often without a trace. Let's frame it this way: The Fleeting Moment, The Backward Glance. See you next Monday for A Walk Through The Universe. But I'll be back before then with posts of a different order!
Thanks for your interest and would love to hear from you...cheers!
Thanks for sharing Robin's work and the idea of a fleeting glance and looking backwards (glimpses over your shoulder). I think her skies are what speak to me most - stunning and full of mood and atmosphere...
ReplyDeleteThis is great stuff - definitely let us know when there's a web presence to check out! I love the idea of the fleeting glance - our brains apparently take in quite a lot of information in just a quick look at something, but what our minds then do with it can be quite transformative, altering it in a way that suits or benefits us in some way. Maybe that's why I like photography and so rarely post-produce an image. It may be a selective capture of everything that was going on at just that moment, but it is not manipulated by memory or artistry in the way my writing about it cannot help but do...and of course anyone looking at the image later, myself included, will layer on it their own way of seeing and organizing stimuli...so can there ever be such a thing as a "pure" memory?
ReplyDeleteThanks Fiona...glad you like Robin's work. I agree, the skies are powerful!
ReplyDeleteGabriella...so glad you like Robin's paintings. I'll be sure to let you know when she has a new site. I'm really interested in this next subject as well...so many avenues to explore....seeing, memory, time. Interesting idea you bring up with the photograph, selective...yes, but also objective. Another busy week and poking around and pondering! Thanks for your comment!
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