Old things

One of the greats things about the new studio is having walls again.  It's been a long time since I've been able to unpack old paintings and look at them.  This one is 5 of 5 Sky with Key arranged randomly.  I painted it about 15 years ago.  Back then I was really interested in the surface of polaroid film.  I loved the way the rollers squished the dyes and emulsion onto the little card thing to make a photograph.  The process was just amazing.  This painting started as a polaroid of a cloud scape out of the window of my Best Studio Ever.  In those days I would scan the Polaroid into the computer and break it up into smaller gridded parts.  I'd adjust the color and balance in Photoshop and print the image.  Those I would use to make the painting.  5 of 5 Sky uses 11" and 15" panels.  I called the recognizable visual representation the True View (the name used in traditional Chinese screen paintings).  I was curious when I hung it this time if there would be a sensation of sky and cloud if the image was unrecognizable.  I like the twisting turning thing that's happening with the random arrangement, and I still get the feeling of some sky event.  The bigger question at this time that I was thinking about was could a painter define a linguistics of landscape?  Through color, space or something of the like.  I mean do we know what the world and space looks like?  The color tiles are the main hues used in the overall piece, that's the Key in the title.  It's a pun on the key of a map and also the word 'key' as higher value pigments.