reclining girl with cat
Both Brenda and Rose were nice enough to pose for this painting of the girl reclining on the bed. Dove posed for the girl looking out of the window. This piece was made while we were living in Brooklyn on the 5th floor of a building on the corner of Westminster Ave and Newkirk. We spent a lot of time all together as a family in that two bedroom apartment. Hard as it was we have many fond memories. It seems asl though something was formed in us as a family through the experience of being alone together in a very foriegn place. This painting is getting at the idea of dreams and imagination as a deep part of who we are ,and how it is dove-tailed into our life full of every day things to do ,like washing dishes and making toast. There is a sense of longing and mystery here in this bedroom with the girls and a sleeping cat. If you have never heard of the painter Balthus,
http://www.sover.net/~roselake/Balthus/index.html
We spend most of our time and energy in a kind of horizontal thinking. We move along the surface of things…..[but] there are times when we stop.
we sit still. We lose ourselves in a pile of leaves or its memory. We listen and breezes from a whole other world begin to whisper.
James Carrol