August 19, 2010
A Few Paintings
Reading Daryl’s post today about writing has me wanting to post a few photos of my work. I loved the discussion of the nuts and bolts of the artistic process of writing and I found myself wanting to add to the discussion, but all my responses were in painter speak. I could try to translate it, but writing is really not my creative forté. Instead I thought I’d just show y’all some paintings. So in the spirit of “better to beg forgiveness….”
– Pam
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Also, sorry the photos aren’t better. These can be hard to photograph because they are spread out on so many panels.
Beautiful!
Thanks for sharing these, Pam. They are lovely. I have a soft spot for all things bird related.
Lovely, Pam. Do you do a lot of work like this or do you do single-canvas work too?
I like when works like make the viewer interpret the spaces in between.
I like these very much Pam, thanks for sharing. I’m not sure what but they remind me of something.
Lauren, I’m beginning to think that you and I are the same person in different time spans. I, too, have a soft spot for all things bird related.
Thank you for sharing these, Pam!
Hey, Cindy, a friend of mine was just telling me how much she hates flavored coffee (I was telling her how I just threw out a pot of coffee and the bag of grounds because someone had ground a flavored batch in the grinder and contaminated the whole bunch) and I said, “You’d love Cindy.” Because she would, and I’ve always thought that. Anyway, I’d forgotten you drink flavored coffee now.
By the way, my friend said, “who the hell is Cindy?”
I consider that to be quite the compliment, Cindy. Thank you.
By the way, I’m drinking french vanilla flavored coffee right now.
Thanks! I’m glad you like them. I can be a bit shy about sharing. I hardly remember attending the opening of this show, for example, because I was too busy trying to organize everything, get drunk, hide in plain sight and socialize. But sharing artwork is good for everybody, and y’all have this charming Christopher Walken hijack built right into the site.
Walt, this was from a series I did of multi-panel bird pieces. I enjoy working on single canvases too, especially for smaller works. I am still very partial to this format, however, because of how versatile it is. I also find it to be an inspiring way to work because if I get stuck with some compositional problem, say, in the work as a whole, I can take some time and work on just one of the panels and sometimes that will solve the whole puzzle. Practically speaking, working this way also makes large pieces easier to transport.
Michael, do let me know if you ever figure out what they remind you of.
Pam, a feeling, I think, or a memory. It’s something there in the mist of my mind that almost comes to the surface when I look at these paintings.
Pam–these are splendid. I particularly like the way you subvert the “subject” in these, making different planes and angles generate a sense of time that is precise and fleeting at once.
Here’s a favorite Theodore Roethke poem that your paintings (and Michael’s comment) reminded me of:
–Night Crow–
When I saw that clumsy crow
Flap from a wasted tree,
A shape in the mind rose up:
Over the gulfs of dream
Flew a tremendous bird
Further and further away
Into a moonless black,
Deep in the brain, far back.
That’s beautiful and just perfect, both of you. I’m flattered.
[...] Pam [...]
Pam, you should always share. Sharing is better. Do you ever paint peacocks?
[...] Daryl Scroggins: Here’s a favorite Theodore Roethke poem that your paintings (and Michael’s comment) reminded me of: [...]
I haven’t yet but I think they are great and I do want one for a pet. Preferably one who was slightly dumb and ornery so he could be my guard peacock.
God damn it! I do not drink flavored coffee. One time–ONE FUCKING TIME–I drank flavored coffee because I was too lazy to go downstairs for the good kind. God damn it.
pam bird awesomeness!!!! peacocks might eat the mommy. there needs to be more pam on the internet! she’s hiding a lot of awesome you guys.
Michael I’m with you- I recall Cindy going on and on (and waxing right obscene) about cinnamon-flavored coffees. And something about those little minty-hazelnut creamers?
motherfuckers
fuck one lousy goat.
I once worked with a person (at a printing company) who had a habit of dissolving Junior Mints in her coffee. Sick. She always smiled as she did her data entry, but would then suddenly scream out “Push The Work!”
Cindy, I’m sorry to inform you we will no longer be providing flavored coffee in the break room. HR has advised me not to say that it’s because people who drink flavored coffee are douchey (no offense, Lauren, as I’m sure that, in spite of your affinity for flavored coffee, you are not at all douchey) and emphasize the cost savings instead.
I done tole you I quit this damn job.
In all fairness, my coffee drinking habits are douchey a good 10% of the time.
I can see the woman Daryl describes. Her head is sort of a rounded square shape with a purple bob and a thin little neck. When she yells her head becomes huge and her neck stretches long, but her torso stays exactly the same.
You must have met her! And there’s the glasses that do the 150% view thing.