Wizard of So (Jennifer)

it's been a fall with lots of drawing in it and now it's time for another conversation painting post here so here's a fine fine example of just such a thing that i got to dream up last night with jennifer. enjoy. tom

 

Black: hello Red: hello, Red: evening tom Black: i'd was thinking of letting some words bounce around Black: so i thought nice - this is a good place for that kind of thing Red: go Black: yes and red too Black: i think most good conversations start with hello - thought not all of them Red: did you ever have a great opening line? Black: yes! in the drawings Red: some conversations start with looks, or movement Black: exactly Black: lots these last two days here in ny began that way - with thumbs Black: 'going into the city?' Red: not for me Red: I haven't been outside all day Black: how do yours begin? Red: my conversations have been in this format Black: very im-ey Red: one conversation today began, "So" Black: i like. then you can just fill in the blanks Red: it was like picking up a thread of an earlier conversation Black: so so was like a hyperlink to that earlier one Black: so - and you're back there Red: exactly Black: like the wizard Red: "so, when we last saw our heroine..." Black: oh thats oz not so Black: but maybe theres a wizard of so too Red: The wizard is the conversation that never leaves your head. Black: he listens to soul tunes Red: we're all in our different worlds - additionally today, even when I'm working with someone, I'm alone in my apartment. But I am sharing worlds. Red: I'm listening to jazz and soul. Red: Kurt Rosenwinkel and Leela Jones. Black: i knew he'd be back in my paintings Black: nice - good to see you there kurt Red: he wrote a song called "tone poem" that ends the HEARTCORE album Black: who's leela? Red: it's just perfect. Red: leela's a soul singer Red: with a tuff band Black: i like how in jazz you can find what you want or what you need Black: and that one thing then guides you around Red: in music in general, no? Black: yes for sure Black: in jazz its perhaps more explicitly so Red: what guides you? Black: i think of monk's teasing note poems Black: oh that's easy - red Black: but technically you're not red now - but we can imagine red Red: we will. Black: i guess that's the good thing about most art forms Black: in a way this imagines conversation Red: for me it is a real conversation Black: i mean two humans in front of glowing glow screens pushing buttons? Black: much like music is Red: it's not that Red: pushing buttons Black: so Black: what gets pushed? Red: it's like music when thoughts come out in fingers that make sounds/words come into the world Red: and express Red: buttons, si! now I see your sly point Red: for writers it's all about how to express a detailed thought in just the right detail Red: sometimes it takes more words. Sometimes just less. Black: oh wow so hows does that happen? Black: a mixture of them? Black: like a little and then take some away and then add a few more - remove on and then there's your portrait? Black: one not on there Red: like picking the right paint. Black: this is such an imperfect medium that's what i love about it Red: a line i read recently that stuck: Red: "he felt like he could paw the white out of the moon." Red: it's from the story Brokeback Mountain Red: one sentence. How do you feel? like THAT. Red: sums up perfectly. Black: yes indeed Red: that's what makes writers cry and sigh Red: when a writer gets it right. Black: someone i think it was..... bette midler... she said 'artists get very specific about very general things' Red: oh, that's perfectly it! Red: or, they're general to others, but very specific to us Black: you have someone thinking experience handheld moon whiteness and then who knows what happens next Red: oh, I like the way you put it just as much Red: but when you put it that way, it sounds still different. Red: yours sounds like cupping, admiring, loving. Black: yea - that's our moon Black: we all have the same one Red: Ann Proulx's moon sounds like a celebratory cake Red: to be relished and marked Red: with joy Black: can we eat some too? Red: oh, if we're lucky Red: you've probably eaten some celebratory cake moon in your time. I know I have. Black: like moons of old does it go down well with wine? Red: and song. Black: women? Red: and men. Black: trees? Red: you can rub the frosting on your belly when you're done, or rub a bit of it across your loved one's lips. Red: you can share your moon, but often you keep it between you and the sky Black: wow that's quite an appeal Red: isn't it? Black: a terrific moon Red: a great and yearning moon Red: a tender moon Black: i like the idea of how when we see the moon we make the moon Black: or a moon Red: is it like the way every time someone views art, they view it through their lens, and therefore make it their own? Black: i think so Black: must be like that Black: moons have lots of different names Red: Like when you are lonely on a cold night, the same bright full moon can feel like cold concrete pressing against both your ears Red: and on a lusty summer night, it feels like the wind rushing through your ears Red: clearing your head and warming your brain Black: what about during spring? Red: whispering "hmmmmm" and "yes! yes!" Red: spring moons peek. they are slow to blink Red: or maybe I don't notice the moon in spring. Black: is it out tonight? Red: I see lights all over Red: but no moon from my window Red: all this moon talk is making me hungry for cheese Black: imagine all the hungry people over the centuries in need of cheese from the sky Red: who first called the moon cheese? Red: (I just scoured the fridge for quesadilla makings) Black: oh can you case one up? Red: a small, half-quesadilla. Red: I may need to order out. Black: whoever it was it was a risky proposition. it could have just as easily gone that we now call the moon cheese and the cheese moon Red: we call the cheese moon? Red: swiss cheese, you mean Black: oh this is a perfect length for a little swiss moon painting Black: now each word makes the other words smaller Red: grapefruit moon, ever heard of that? Black: what's it taste like? Red: it's the big yellowish moon you can see some nights hanging close to the earth. looks full of detail Red: I think like summer Black: the moon always goes right to the edge Red: but does it stick between your teeth?