My painting studio and my writing room are not the same. I paint in the small shed/studio set off to the side of the house behind the carport and the large workshop. I’ve been putting this new place together since December, including new lights, and the numbers above are the specifications for the overhead lights. Painting is not just about paint. I write at my … Continue reading 5000K, 85-100 CRI
“Summer was past and the day was past.Sombre clouds in the west were massed.” Robert Frost’s poignant poem, “Bereft” includes these lines, and they came to mind today, although in this case: “Winter was past and the cold was past. Fluffy clouds in the west were massed.” Spring has come, and with it the flowers of the season, the budding branches, the greening grass, the … Continue reading A Wild and Precious Life
The body here, which I found some now-forgotten place, was the inspiration for my series, “Celestial Bodies.” I was attending a marketing workshop for artists about how to sell the paintings when I heard the line, “You’ll need a body of work…” At that moment, words from an old tune ran through my head: “I ain’t got no body…” And I did, in fact, have … Continue reading A Body of Work and the Traces of Art
Abstract expressionist artists so often have a hard time explaining what they do when they’re asked the larger-than-large questions: What’s it about? or What does it mean? Or why did you call it that? We have little to anchor our work back to whatever reality exists (I’m a skeptic about reality), and we work in a more or less constant state of mystery. Sometimes the … Continue reading Notice What You Notice
“Doxy” The Colors of Jazz Collection ©2020, Molly Larson Cook 28 x 22 Acrylic on Canvas The well-known philosopher of the late 20th century, Miss Piggy, once advised: “When opportunity knocks, you don’t just open the door and let him in. You open the door, get out the Taittinger ’66, and pin him to the couch!” I didn’t have any Taittinger ’66 on … Continue reading Acting with the Universe!
“Cool Blues” ©2020, Molly Larson Cook 36″ x 24″ Acrylic on canvas Where does it come from – the art impulse? Out of all the things we can do, what is it makes us pick up a crayon or a pencil, a paintbrush, pen or stick of charcoal to record one thing or another that we see or imagine? I don’t have the answer. … Continue reading The Creative Spirit – Everybody Can Play
Mr. P.C. from the Colors of Jazz Collection” © 2020, Molly Larson Cook 36 x 24, Acrylic on Canvas In any of the creative arts, revision is the name of the game. Nobody gets it perfect the first time. It’s always instructive for new writers to look at manuscripts left by well-known authors, manuscripts with scrawled new words or lines, other lines scratched … Continue reading Choosing – and Choosing Differently Tomorrow
“My Funny Valentine” The Colors of Jazz Collection © 2020 Molly Larson Cook 28 x 22, Acrylic on Canvas Available The waiting game continues. And so do the articles appearing daily about changing the ways to market our art. At the same time, there are the seductive stories and ads that lead us to believe all will be back to normal “very soon.” “Very soon” … Continue reading One Painting at a Time
Hot House Colors of Jazz Collection ©2020, Molly Larson Cook Acrylic on canvas 30″ x 24″ My county in Oregon has been cleared for a “soft” re-opening, Phase I as the governors and medical experts call it, as we begin the shift out of lockdown for COVID-19. I’m not sure yet how this will pan out, and it might be too early, but a … Continue reading It’s Going to Take Some Time This Time
How Deep Is the Ocean? ©2019, Molly Larson Cook 28 x 22 Acrylic on canvas My studio closed this week when someone in the building became exposed to the terror sweeping the world. Nobody wanted to take chances, so we all packed up and headed home – me, the tech guys down the hall, the marriage counselor next door, and the nonprofit at the … Continue reading When the Going Gets Tough, the Tough Paint in the Kitchen
Art and Tulips 