Sifting Through the Debris

My Booth at Artscape 2022

There are memories of days of this sort, of wonderful driftings in and out of the crowd, of seeing and thinking. Where are the sketches that were made? Some of them are in dusty piles, some turned out to be so so good they got frames, some became motives for big pictures, which were either better or worse than the sketches, but they, or rather the states of being and understandings we had at the time of doing them all, are sifting through and leaving their impress on our whole work and life.

Robert Henri, The Art Spirit

With the Dallas Arboretum event one week away, I find myself today tidying my wreck of a studio so I can make it a legitimate workspace. In the adjoining room I have stacks and stacks of discarded art work from years past–some of it unfinished, some of it finished but not matted or framed, most of it forgotten. I’ve decided to look at all the discarded work to see if any of it can become part of my “A Team” to hang in the art booth next week. It’s not that I don’t have enough merchandise for the space. At last count I had 92 framed watercolors ready to hang. But I have seen all of those in Gallery at Redlands, Studio 48, and various art festivals where I’ve participated. I’m ready to see something new on the walls. And so, as I slog my way through this studio tidying, I lean forward with interested anticipation at what I’ll find as I did up the old bones of past work. If even one of them is deemed worthy of display, I’ll feel I have done something productive. I have a good supply of mats and frames ready to put on new work.

I’ll leave early in the morning to spend Saturday in Palestine’s Gallery at Redlands. At the end of the day, I’ll pack up some of the gallery’s furnishings for my booth the next weekend.

Thanks for reading. I’ll post more when I have more to report. Artscape will be April 27-28, and I’m getting ready to organize and load my gear for the event. I’d love to see you there!

Tags: Americana, Artscape, Dallas Arobretum, David Tripp artist, nostalgia, Studio 48, The Gallery at Redlands, watercolor