It's Always Something

I try to always have my little camera with me. 

When it's been left at home on the counter, 

I've always regretted it. There's usually something

that crosses my line of sight I wished

I'd had it in my pocket.

Yesterday was no different.

I was on my way to the store when I saw

these cherry-like berries against

the light gray background of the 

churchyard where they live.

They seemed like drawings to me,

scraggly thick and thin lines

defining the space in which they exist.

And triangles.

Lots of triangles. 

In a way, they reminded me of drawings 

and prints by John Dowell, one of my college professors.

I remember the time he showed his portfolio

to a batch of interested students.

It was a suite of lithographs he'd produced

for his MFA thesis. Based on the theme

of the gradual opening of a triangle, his words

and work has stuck with me for nearly

fifty years. I thought of him when 

I took these little snaps.

One of his drawings, Just A Sign of Soul,

is shown below. I love it. Of course.

Art in Speedway: John Dowell

These leaves had fallen from a nearby bush.

Their arrangement in the snow, along with 

the bits of colored grasses and shadows, reminded me 

of drawings and paintings by John Dowell,

a contemporary artist from Philadelphia, whose

drawings deal as much with the effect of

negative space as they do with the actual marks.

Every line, shadow, and bit of texture

is considered in relation to the others, and how

they affect the overall space.

John was one of my college profs,

whose work enchanted me from the first

time I saw a suite of his lithographs.

He seemed so wise and "together"

to me even then, despite the fact he is

only four years older.

This is one of John Dowell's watercolor drawings,

Just a Sign of Soul, done in 1975. It is in the

collection of the Indiana University Art Museum.