Thursday, March 1, 2007

Calendar Series: 38th Month / Innocence (The Unexpected) (1988)

Not exactly sure why I titled this image with the name of the 25th hexagam of the I Ching. I do remember the first dramatic view of the Pacific Ocean on the way out of San Francisco on Highway 1 going south and remember wanting to paint how it felt to see that. Up near the setting full moon, which appears to be eclipsed, are the number symbols from the six sides of a European-style die. I must have been wondering if there is a connection between dice and hexagrams. To read the text for the 25th hexagram, click here. Below are two of my pastel drawings posted previously, in which an eclipsed full moon appears. Self-Portrait of an Old Friend as a Young Man (1982): and Middle of the Journey (1984):

2 comments:

Lori Witzel said...

That wonderfully rich title -- Self-Portrait of an Old Friend as a Young Man -- is another layer of beauty on the resonant, almost preternatural colors.

I feel the colors as a sort of uncanny holy glow -- makes me wonder if this person was real, and if so who they were/are.

am said...

This is the same man as the man in the foreground of "40th Month / Imaginary Brothers with Questions," posted on March 3rd. The image is from a photo taken in a rice paddy by another soldier in Vietnam in 1970. He is an artist who told me in 1986 that he had put his paint brushes down and didn't foresee ever picking them up again.