MAR - sketchbook

MAR - Carpe Noctem

Carpe Noctem   2016   chalk pastel on paper   13x13"

Carpe Noctem: Latin for "Seize the Night"

This is the latest in my baseboard drawing series. I've covered roughly half the room in about 12 drawings; my intention is to document in pastel the rest of the room by the end of May. There is something delightfully meditative and enlightening in observing the perimeter of an entire room, one square foot at a time. There is no rushing through the process, no mad race to get to the next drawing, no skipping sections that at first glance seem uninteresting. There is only now: a particular color in the light and the ever-shifting and elegantly accumulating dust.

MAR - Strandbeests and Bedrooms

I had the unbelievable pleasure of seeing Theo Jansen's "Strandbeests" at the Chicago Cultural Center earlier this week. I've been a fan of his for years - since high school actually - and I never thought I'd get the chance to see his work in person. They are breathtakingly beautiful and deeply profound. 

Afterwards I spent some time at the Van Gogh exhibition at the Art Institute, which is every bit as good as you'd expect. I had seen two of the bedroom paintings before: the one in the Art Institute's collection and the one in the Van Gogh museum in Amsterdam. However, I haven't been to Paris yet, and so the third and final version was new to me.

Somehow, even with as much as I have studied about Vincent, there are always paintings I've never seen before. Below are two of my new favorites.

MAR - Open Studio Night #7