I was accepted for a group show at a respectable NY gallery. The gallery director said that I needed a larger work. I anchored a 48” x 62” canvas on a studio easel and at the end of the day returned the house with a background and the figures roughed in. The were friends. I delivered “The Bathers”, “Gates of Eden”, and the newly finished “The Couple” to the gallery. My time was up. I had to return the borrowed van to Texas and vacate the loaned house. I was a sale away from a plane ticket back to NYC.
A mentor, Mike Lekakis, asked me if I was afraid of straight lines. The horizon in 'The Bathers' is a straight line. I kept it from cutting off the canvas with a bridging pattern. The beaches on the Long Island Sound are pebbles. They look like eggs. The whole thing is very sensual. The ocean is all about reproduction.
If you think about it, nature doesn't have any hard edges. There are clusters where something is dominate, but always there is something else in the mix. I emphasized that in Edge of the Field. I started this outside and finished it several days later inside. It's painted with multiple glazes.
I was warmly welcomed by my friends in NY. I sold several paintings. I painted “Untitled” the first couple of days while I couch surfed. I traded a painting and a promise to paint the kitchen for a few months in a summer house on the north fork of Long Island. While there I traveled back and forth seeking representation in the city.
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