Bye, Bye, July

 

Tuesday, July 31, 2012 – Bye, Bye, July

I’m not sorry to say goodbye to a very, very hot month of July.  In fact, I’ve decided to change my birthday from July 14 to a more pleasant time of year.  (If Queen Elizabeth can set her own official birthday, so can I.)  Henceforth, I will celebrate my birthday on October 14.  As far as I know, no one in my family has claimed that date yet.  

Elliott at work in the studio (my paintings in background)

This afternoon, Elliott and I embarked on an interesting experiment.  For the first time in our relationship, we are collaborating on a painting.  I proposed the idea of working together one day last week when I witnessed Elliott’s intense frustration with his inability to produce an accurate drawing of the image he wanted to use in a painting.  He knew exactly what he wanted to put on paper, but his poor vision prevented him from actually doing the drawing.   I offered to work along with him, basically acting as extension of his vision, i.e. from his brain to my brain to my hand.  I knew it would be a challenge for me, since I would have to suppress my own ideas.  But I never realized how difficult it would be for him to communicate (in a combination of words and sketches) what he wanted me to do.  For an hour or so today, I put my brain through mental contortions, trying to follow the path of his thinking.  I think it took so long because his thought process is so different than mine.  Finally, I realized exactly what he wanted and I was able to produce one of the templates he wants for his next painting.  Of course, this is just the beginning, but I’m determined to give this collaborative approach a fair chance.