Well as you might imagine it took some cooperation from the goose for this pin up shot but seemed like an appropriate one for the day! It makes me smile as no real editing happened here, just a really quick shutter as a landing was imminent. Still, it has me thinking about perception and ways of seeing.

I have been laying down the textures on the ‘white’ panel of the four directions series today. It is the last one to get its start underway, I suspect a bit of procrastination as I seek a plan for making 36 inches of canvas seem interesting white on white. I think I’ve got my starting place as I wait with my small ‘studio’ blocked by the giant drafting table, and the easel laying flat. I think of my Mom and her  white space joke while I would sometimes contemplate the empty page, ‘What is that, a polar bear in a snowstorm?’ I miss my mom and her silly sense of humour. She loved a good prank, even a lame one in good spirit.

When I worked with teens I liked to bring black paper and white crayons to try and see things from a different perspective. While they worked on design we would question other places in life the same principle could apply.  A concrete practice in empathy.

In a demo by master Abstract painter Barry Rafuse, I watched with appreciation as he flipped the canvas top to bottom, right to left, to be sure nothing interesting was being missed. Sure enough with each new view something different was possible. I think I am going to approach this day in that way, a lot of head tilting, second glances and a sense of possibility. Just for this morning, there is a moratorium on taking life too seriously. If it works out well, I will carry it over a few days, because working without a schedule I find I really lose track of the calendar so who is to know, it can be our secret.