Its a start

It's ironic how art works. I headed into the studio with the intention of getting going on my commissions. I did some prep work on them, and then pulled out a canvas and started painting this painting. It has nothing to do with a commission; it has to do with Jim. Doy! Of course I have to get that out of me before I can go on to the commissions. I couldn't admit that, but "art" knew.

This is unfinished (I think), but an interesting start. I've had an idea in my mind for awhile related to Jim's actuarial. (An actuarial is a statisical calculation of life expectancy). Shortly after Jim died I received a call from one of his colleagues. She told me that the last time she saw Jim he had come by her office shortly after a legislator had died. The man had lived to an old age. Jim told her “At least he made his actuarial. He was fortunate to live so long. .. That’s my goal, to meet my actuarial.”

Of course he didn’t. I looked up his actuarial and at his age, 57, he should have lived another 22.77 years.

So that got me thinking of doing a painting based on his actuarial. I have many versions in my mind which I'll describe later...in this painting I reference it in the bottom rectangular section. If you read it from left to right, the white space is proportional to those 22.77 years...its unfinished.

At first I thought the rest of that part of the canvas should be black, but then I decided it wasn’t black… perhaps a deep blue. And in this one I decided it should just be white; the life was unfinished…and light is white.

The upper portion of the painting is referencing the moon. I hadn't planned that, it just came out. The moon has been a big comfort to me during these months of mourning. It makes me feel closer to Jim somehow. We toasted him at the full moon on his birthday.