Studio at Night



I am getting settled in my new apartment, and studio. My window faces out on a well-lit street, which is a change from my previous place. There I had windows on three sides, but the apartment was at the back of a house, so the views mostly looked verdantly suburban, almost rural. Here in my new place orange light from the street lights, slightly augmented by lights on the building across the street, and reflection from the paved parking lot and wide street, shines in when I turn out the light at night. Street lights, and the closed blinds, project a dull orange, geometrically bounded striped pattern on the floor.

It feels more city-like here than it did at my last place. I was expecting this, and hoping it would inspire me in a way similar to my brief stays in city apartments in my travels. One thing that I liked about several of the apartments I have stayed in, during visits to Europe and Canada, is how quiet the living space could be, even close to a center of activity. With solid construction and thoughtful design this seems to be possible. Now that the students are back in town, I will see if it gets louder here as well. So far, it hasn’t, and I certainly hope this will continue to be the case.

Earlier this evening I worked on an oil painting for the first time in almost three months. My painting activity had been confined to the acrylic paintings which I just installed on Wednesday, and I hope to discuss more soon. It was a wonderful painting session, with a net positive visual alteration of the painting, and a feeling of being more richly alive afterward than I was before. The flexibility of the oil medium allows for the kind of gradual ‘easing-in’ of new ideas, in forms of colors, that feels organic. With oil I have the opportunity to move about the surface of the painting, sometimes working quickly, sometimes slowly, without worrying about the paint drying.

Working in acrylic for me is more like a fight, in inhospitable conditions, as the cool, evasive, somewhat disembodied paint exerts its will. At some point soon I might try again the fairly common practice of painting in acrylic first, then painting oil on top of it as needed. In the past, I could never imagine the two mediums meshing cohesively in a painting, but maybe this can change.

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