I dream of buying 5 gas fires, having one installed in my large warehouse home, which was in New York. The fire was something like a large Bunsen Burner focused on a copper pipe, and was very noisy, almost like a hot air balloon heater. The gas fitter said that this was normal and that most fires are Bunsen Burner based nowadays. A party was happening in this hollow room of red brick walls and concrete floor, and I noticed that I was standing next to Carla from Cheers, the actress Rhea Perlman, who I remembered the name of in the dream. She asked who I was. I awoke with stomach pain, and has shivers and sweats in the night too; perhaps too cold on this unusually cold May night. The temperature indoors is little difference than in December.
When awake in the night I was filled with ideas for paintings and unusual feelings and insights. I thought about Dali's paintings of violins and pianos from the 1930s and noted for the first time the interesting feelings of these instruments; it is in particular the weight and bulk of the piano that is important, and the egg-shell delicacy of the violins. I had a clear image of a piano on the wall, no keys, no legs, but embedded in the wall and made from soft clay, so it was grey, like the wall, and I strongly felt the unique feeling of pressing my hands into the soft clay of this wall-piano.
I was aware that it is set to rain tomorrow, but was sunny today, so decided to paint something. I thought about painting the sky to my Lachesis painting, but instead grabbed the small panel The Safe Box, which I drew out in June 2019. I painted with little planning, though the turquoise sky was influenced by my plans for Lachesis, and Dali's Crucifixion (from which the landscape is lifted). The flesh colours were Light Red based with some yellow ochre, which is rare for me, as 'Naples Yellow' (well, Chromium Titanium Oxide) is generally always prettier.
In terms of meaning, this one was unconsciously drawn and I can't recall the concept, though I've started not to worry or wonder about the concept or 'meaning' too much providing that the result is genuine, authentic, true... there is and must be a meaning, but it is there to discover. At first I thought that it was about the box world of the internet, or virtual safety, but perhaps it has more to do with childhood. The very landscape connects it to my childhood for the Christ of Saint John of the Cross is one of the few images of paintings I can strongly remember from my childhood. I wasn't interested in art until my mid-30s.
The lovely cobalt turquoise sky is a little transparent and the whole thing will benefit from a glaze layer, as always this will add more detail and brilliance, but the painting is also sufficiently complete as it is. The canvas is a relatively small 20x25cm.
