Luke Rawlings

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An Interesting History

This single canvas has an interesting history. I bought it online last summer, and whatever humans handled it between when the canvas was made and when it was delivered to my address must have been practicing karate moves with it, or thought it would be a delight to toss it around like a football, or maybe they needed to kick something… it arrived with two rips, and the frame was such that if you put it down on the floor (technically a flat surface), the right upper corner lifted off the floor. When I tried to return it, no luck.

A couple of weeks ago, I repaired the rips by cutting up another canvas that had been damaged, and using gesso. Then I painted a cat’s eyes on the canvas, in blues and greens, black, and some white. Didn’t like it and hung it up on a wall of unfinished works so I could stare at it and figure out what to do.

Dexter decided to bite into a tube of red paint, which meant I had to either throw the tube away, or use it asap. So I used up all the red by mixing it with a few other colors, and here is what I have so far.

I don’t know what this is yet, but this is the best thing about engaging in an art form, especially if you have a brain that sees emotions as all kinds of colors, songs as scenes, and you hear poetry as you paint or sketch. I think I see water forming, or some area on another planet.

All I know is I have to get up from my chair every half hour and either do some kind of exercise or grab a brush and add something to this canvas. It’s helping me cope with a life I’m spending on four separate devices that contain almost 20 passwords I can never remember. Happy Thursday, friends.