red ink

If you could smell this page, you might detect the faint lingering of a soul satisfying scent; like the memory of inhaling the rich perfume of a full bloomin red rose in the spring.  As Ceci brought forth her study of neurons in her last post, I call attention now to my devotion to color with all its glorious sacrifices and offerings.  Noted in Cec's post, the red ink which came in to the being of this neuron pregnated page dripped from my hand.  In fact, it flowed down the glass point of an old fashioned plume I purchased one fateful day on the westside of Melrose.  Not only was the implement an object of lust, the ink too was sultry; a small potent pot of scarlet, tinged with an olfactory hallucinagen.  That ink inspired me to great love letters as well as devoted entries in zbook and other manuscripts.  Here in "life", the glass pen was so smooth following the lines of Cec's neuron, I remember feeling intoxicated by the process. 

click for larger view

 Often in these and other collaborations, each line stroke is felt with such sensuallness, the work of art becomes a means to explore the gifts of touch and sight.  The consuming lusciousness of working with the dip and flow of this pen and ink on this spread, led me to touching each image surface with the red color.  As previously mentioned, the red came in to existence years later than some of the imagery; I could guess it was in 1999 because that is when I was living with my grandmother for a spell in WestHollywood, and I was exploring the surrounding regions.  By that time in our collaboration, Cec and I had begun to really trust our give and take, trust subtlety and boldness so that we were really interacting in the artistic spaces, rather than just existing side by side.  Remnant from the early days is exposed on the left of "life" where the butterfly (Cec's drawing) and the shark (my totem) remain separate in their own corners.

Though i'd like to delve into the blues of the watercolor, my son has just awoken from deep sleep and I must bid adieu for tonight.  Bon Voyage fellow travelers.  Send a postcard.

-J.