The fabric of Phil

There’s this T-shirt I’ve had it for 20 years. Can’t get rid of it. If I’d follow the advice of William Morris and countless decluttering experts, I should toss this T-shirt because it is neither beautiful nor useful. I was weeding out clothes today, and I tried again to put it in the box. Couldn’t do it. … read more The fabric of Phil

Emotions for sale

What emotion are you selling? the webinar host asks us. That’s the question you have to answer. Good question. Another question might be, Why do you want to sell emotion? I’m watching the second in a series of free webinars about marketing your art. The host is selling us the emotion of happiness, the artist’s … read more Emotions for sale

Accent in Pink, 1926

When I browsed my Kandinsky book this morning, his painting Accent in Pink jumped off the page to embrace me. The diamond-shaped rectangle stretches its “arms” wide and reveals the energy emanating from the center. The energy take on many colors, black, dark green, three shades of blue, gray, pink, red, emanating from a mottled gray square … read more Accent in Pink, 1926

Rainy day spirits

It’s just crumpled plastic wrap. It’s sitting there in the trash can in big wads. I took a quick snapshot of the plastic wrap to illustrate my post about unwrapping. But the light in the office is good – subdued, cloudy, coming through the windows and skylights in filtered soft grey because the rain is pouring … read more Rainy day spirits

What hurts about beauty

I slept too late and moved too slowly. When I gathered my seven pieces of colored paper, the shapes would not play. They sat stiffly in their rectangles and triangles, and waited for the time to pass until the daily call from Pakistan came and I had to answer it. After a lot of commotion, I … read more What hurts about beauty

None can compare

When I see bright, fluorescent pink in the forest, it’s usually leftover trail blaze tape or an empty Energy Gel packet. I was huffing along the trail, trying to finish my eight-plus miles in three and half hours. Looked like I’d make it. I didn’t. Because of the pink. No, it wasn’t FIRE PINK. It was … read more None can compare