How The Work Gets Done: IN THE POCKET
“It’s the perspective of rising above and entering in. It’s a speeding up and slowing down, a desire as intimate as a heartbeat…”
“Percy Street” - Painting by Denise Landi
I’ve taken to spending more time than ever in my studio, reveling in memory and reflection, revisiting people and places that secure me as life flows by.
The painting above, “Percy Street”, came from a full season of holidays. It represents a dining room in a historic neighborhood that I love.
I have friends there who gather often and have for years. It’s the kind of place where each house is a mini museum, full of souvenirs, art, pets, and long-lived traditions.
There are certain foods you can almost count on to be served by particular people and everyone has the same “remember when’s”.
In the day unfiltered sunlight cuts through deep shadow while at night it manifests in moonbeams, candles, firelight, and strings of bulbs that hang from trees and porches.
The feeling there is as seasoned as the houses and the history of fellowship that exists from years of community and celebration.
I can close my eyes and see some of the rooms that have welcomed me with food, music and fellowship.
This dining room is a dark rich green and hung with paintings brought during a lifetime of travel.
It’s set between the kitchen and the parlor where my own paintings chosen by the owners continue to greet me, some having been in their spots there for twenty years.
I personally know the origin of most of the items. And I’m familiar so many things there.
I can recall the names of the relatives posing in the old black and white photographs tucked behind the more recent ones on the piano in the dining room.
I am reassured that this is a place where I can revisit time treasured and memories protected.
The painting came to me when my own memory was sparked by a photo I found while putting away decorations.
It was a picture of this room, taken on a winter night many years ago. The Polaroid was crinkled like an artifact or fossil, a lost clue to a perfect night.
I knew to be quick and I had to be decisive. The figures evolved as I balanced the dark with their illuminated forms.
I knew without thinking how it felt as the light shards from a revolving centerpiece of candles flew around the room and I placed them instinctively.
The chandelier itself was acquired by the owners on a trip to Ireland we all took in 2002. I was with them in the shop when we saw it and somehow knew they had to take it home.
So I opened up a 36x60 canvas and out this image came with the force of a gust of wind. It was ready before I picked up the brush and waved back at me at it settled.
This is what I think about when I hear the phrase “in the pocket” to describe pure creation. It’s the perspective of rising above and entering in. It’s a speeding up and slowing down, a desire as intimate as a heartbeat, and creation as universal as an ancient truth.
It lands and you sit back and sigh, not marveling in your accomplishment but marveling that the force of creation has granted you the passion that kept you going till you knew it was done.
The End
Dedicated to my friends Jerry Ramsey and Marian Earles.