Mondrian

Each morning, I’m gifted with 30 minutes to drink my coffee, write in my journal, and read scripture. I sit in a spot that faces east and a few weeks out of the year (because I’m a “later riser”) I get a peek at the sunrise. The sky warms up right above a shrub turned tree that morphs into a fuchsia pompom in March. Once the flowers fade and fall, this bush is pedestrian, but for one week color and light create a show just for me.

“…the paintings are deep articulations of attachment to the living world. He is showing us how to locate a thing’s meaning in how it interacts, cohabitates, counterbalances.” The “he” from this quote is Piet Mondrian. Jason Farago (in an interactive piece from the NYT included in my stories) introduced me to a new side of Mondrian, one who was deeply connected to what was living. Alongside, his stark paintings of line, form and primary color, he painted dozens of flower portraits. The pieces are intricate and tender. I can hardly believe he toggled between these two ways of communicating his love of the natural world.
And yet, I do the same. Some feelings are better communicated through the play of color and form than through line and imagery.

lenten prayer vi | 14x11 | prismacolor and cold wax over encaustic collagraph