unpacking

jan and i recently returned from a week in jackson, wyoming, where we had spectacular weather and lovely hiking. we went to the national museum of wildlife art, which is somewhat as dreary and hackneyed as it sounds, but they had an enchanting display of maurice sendak's drawings and paintings, and a superb collection of paintings by carl rungius, whom i had not known. much to learn in rungius about color in light.

i spent the afternoon today unpacking the studio. i turntabled a selection of favorite guitarists -- metheny, mclaughlin, van eps, beck -- and sorted through my collection of books, boxing up a few dozen as discards, including a hefty and very reverent hagiography on picasso.

i unpacked paints and supplies, cleaned dishware, gathered up cobwebs, and watched birds scratching for seed in the fresh mowed meadow grass.

i sorted through photos, selecting a few as next projects.

tomorrow i begin work on a very large water painting (a painting of water, nothing else), and a new portrait of my wife and leah, our massage therapist.

i have been in a way digesting and ruminating.