I had started the Maliwada, India painting three years ago by putting several base coats on paper. That piece stood untouched at the back of my studio. Then last February I did seven small color studies, more than I've done for any of the other fifteen paintings that I’ve completed. That shows how anxious I was about trying to capture what this model village project in India means to me. The studies excited me but did not move me to action. Instead, they sat upon a shelf. Finally, in September I challenged myself to do the painting. It came together in about one month’s time. I guess three years of greasing the wheels of creativity finally got them to move!
I began the painting of Azpitia, Peru over a year ago, worked on it for several months, then set it aside when the section on Machu Pichu didn’t work. At the beginning of October, encouraged by completing Maliwada, I challenged myself to resolve the Peru painting. I spent four weekends putting in Machu Pichu with collage, removing a dark area, reconnecting with the Quechua writing that captured my imagination, putting in a vertical light line, glazing to match the shade of beige I had used in other parts of the painting, and making all the tiny adjustments necessitated by each of these changes. It’s done.
With Peru finished, there’s one final painting in this series: Oyubari, Japan. In August 2006, I did sketches and a study for this piece. I made an unsuccessful attempt at the painting over two years ago and quit. About a year ago, I had an idea for how to do the base coats, but didn’t attempt it. Now I’m challenging myself to complete the Oyubari painting by the end of November.
Why have I put this pressure for completion on myself? Because Pilgrimage is going on the road in 2010! Two exhibitions are scheduled, one in March and one in April-May. Five other sites are looking at shows in 2011 and 2012. And, it looks as though there may be a show catalog that shares both the paintings and stories that go with them. This new wrinkle came out of a visit I made last week to the gallery where Pilgrimage goes up in March.
The stories that accompany Pilgrimage have been evolving for even longer than the paintings. Two tales on my life in the village of Kendur, India were written in 1986. In 1990 I wrote a poem about my experience in the Philippines. In 1996 I wrote a story based on my experience in El Bayad, Egypt. Last January I wrote anecdotes from Australia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Mexico, Nigeria, and Zambia. Now I’m working on stories from Hong Kong, Japan, Kenya, New Mexico, Peru, Sudan and Maliwada.
Working on paintings for the villages in which I have lived and worked has been like turning a sock inside out. My village experiences in diverse cultures have totally shaped who I am but I’ve always kept them on the inside, hidden from public view. As Pilgrimage goes on tour, my interior will be on the outside for anyone to see. That’s pretty scary, but I know that these paintings and stories need to have a life of their own. They don’t belong to me. They were gifts to me from the Mystery.
