Some Days I Dream of Greatness

...and then I realize I haven't had my coffee yet

I just finished a new group of work for a show taking place in Seattle this July.

At the end of preparing for a show, there is excitement.
There is exhaustion.
There is paperwork.

I think about greatness. I don’t know if I will ever achieve it, but I know it when I see it. I want to breathe in paintings by John Singer Sargent. Would I get in trouble if I went up to The Daughters of Edwin Darley Boit and took a deep inhale? Maybe a tiny lick? Would it make headlines in the Boston Globe?

Who is to say he didn’t do a version of this painting with…um…other models?

Some of the work in my upcoming show is a bit of a departure from the work I have been doing for the past 40-odd years, but with the way the world is going, who knows how much time any of have left? To live a life in making art, means taking chances. Not staying in the same comfortable place.

All over this little world here at Substack, I see artists and writers taking chances. Moving their art to places it has not gone before. With the clock ticking, I want to see how far I can take it. I’m at the beginning of a new phase in a long life, ready to push past earlier limitations, real or perceived.

The moon rises
The moon sets
The moon gets caught in the branches of the deep woods

Breaking free is everything

These monotypes will be part of the works at Fountainhead Gallery on Queen Anne Hill in Seattle in July 2025. (The Daughters of Minette dePanda will not be in this show) Show dates July 3- August 3; reception July 12 4-6 PM. I hope you’ll stop by in you’re in the area.

I’ll share more work from the show and write about process in the coming weeks. My brain is somewhat fried at the moment, but I wanted to post some of what I’ve been working on and what’s going through my brain.

Keep creating. They can’t stop that, at least not yet. Be the Bear.