Old Friend

This blog was written  in October 2012, twenty years ago.  

Shortly after Hurricane Sandy ravished New York. 

I compare it to what is happening now. 

I imagine our spring and summer will be as extreme as our winter was. But I am talking about Chicago now, though much still applies to NYC.

Direct effects of disturbing the Gaia are happening in front of our very eyes. 

Storms happening not just in our skies, but in our Democracy, in our Constitution, in our cities and towns, in our homes, and apparently in our hearts. 

Looking at the past can sometimes shed light on the present.

Nothing like a storm to wake you up.

Are storms contagious? It seemed like it spread in my household with my father and I. Dad actually went out in the storm and came back angry and perplexed, as though he had been lied to by some mistaken meteorologist.  I suddenly realized how intimately this storm effected people's lives.

It had been a long time since I walked down to the Manhattan  Bridge, but there was no other way to get to Brooklyn. Most traffic was going uptown and not over the crowded bridges. So I walked slowly and took note of the old feeling that I used to get from parts of NYC that were vacant and quiet, that no longer exist, but here I was walking through them Thursday night - Soho, the Village, huge neighborhoods completely desolate and empty.

Had I known what the effects of Hurricane Sandy would have been in my life, I would have certainly tried to be better prepared. Though it was very stressful, I got into Manhattan on Thursday. 

I have real trouble with crowds, so it was easy to stay away from the few stores that were open then. Put in a full day of work...then the best part of my day - walking down to the Manhattan Bridge. It was like walking back in time. The old New York I knew like an old friend who I hadn't seen in a very long time. The further south I walked, the fewer people I saw. Then the bizarre building at 14th street and 8th avenue with the entire front ripped off exposing the 3 floors - obviously a crap restoration that Sandy would expose! 

Wandering down a beautiful street in Soho, I found my vision. On the large open sidewalks, an 8 x 10 inch painting lay on the ground staring up at me. Dabs of bright orange paint arranged in a sporadic pattern on a clear piece of plastic jumped out at me - mesmerizing me, as though it were three dimensional. The iron street grating had rusted onto the plastic wrapper creating a pattern and an image. I took it with me back to my studio and translated it into dabs of red paint onto several paintings. 

It brought to mind an old Dove chocolate wrapper fortune: "In chaos, there is opportunity".

                           Pandemic Sunset, Chicago

Romulus - azurite pigment

Paint making is an unusual process. As an artist, I prefer materials that suit my expectations. I began with natural hard resin formulas. Later,  I took a few workshops with Michael Price in Brooklyn. Price taught me about preparing pigments, and their specific, chemical properties.  Azurite is a specific, acid sensitive mineral that cannot be made into oil paint with linseed oil.  By using the correct oil, this extraordinary mineral color remains permanently blue rather than turning black - as in linseed oil. Casein - coated azurite may be an exception to mixing it with linseed oil.   I consulted many historical sources - all of which concern themselves with the properties of pigments and specific oils. Later I will share my bibliography with you. Reading translations that are often over a hundred years old, was an interesting journey into semantics. Grammatical interpretations sometimes created errors, particularly when referring to colors, often confusing material with color, eg, amber.  Regarding hard resin materials, the same applies, as hard copal varnish may be the most overlooked medium of all time.

What you see here is a sample of processed casein-coated azurite, grade AAA. 

The colors are from the core stone that varies in quality. The cleaning (water protein process) purifies the colors and through levigation, become pigment. In this case I moved the water away from the pigment in a circular manner and an image appeared. Metaphysical qualities of natural minerals abound within the alchemy of paint making. Each mineral has physical properties that are unique and dictate (lightfastness, permanence) - how the material is processed. 

I call this specimen, Romulus as it reminded me of the Roman babies at the tits of the she wolf. This specimen is from the Congo region, known for particularly beautiful quality minerals including diamonds. The process continues with making different particles to create the pigment. 

Once made, pigment may be made into a variety of paints depending on the medium.

 

ROMULUS - azurite pigment ©Copyright 2023tomirizarrystudio