New Work: Across Town

Across Town
acrylic on wc paper image size 12" x 16" approx-available

The title is a play on words. When I drive to the Bay Area, part of my route is on highway 4 or what is known as "The Crosstown Freeway."  Fairly frequently, in the morning, I will see a plume of smoke as I approach the highway 5 interchange. The other day, as I was coming home, I chanced to look in the rear view mirror and I saw the plume again in the afternoon. Seems like that needs to go into a painting!

I actually tried another version of this piece but gave it up in frustration. I am willing to call a spade a spade and even if my design is good, by my standards, I still may not be able to execute it. Or have the patience for it. I had way too many fiddly areas that needed to be taped in order to achieve straight lines. I felt like I was going back to what I used to do and that felt all wrong. I want to go forward, not in reverse! So, I gessoed over the thing and started again.

I referenced this piece here by Etel Adnan. I added my own "motifs" of the plume of smoke, the Delta, a conglomeration of the buildings that you can see from the freeway, and the ubiquitous sun/moon. The building color actually references a building that is in my hometown where I grew up. So, a melange of things. The blue rectangle is referencing the Greyhound Bus building in Stockton which I believe is now defunct. This is all stuff that nobody but me would know necessarily. I look around for things in my past though to form my own narrative for these pieces. It's OK if no  one else knows what they are unless they ask me. Hopefully another person would see their own things in these pieces.

OK, hope everyone has had a good week. Thanks for reading and commenting.

Libby