Artists in Isolation | ROB MATTHEWS

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So far isolation has not changed my process. I guess I’m always alone in the studio and I prefer to be at home anyway. There was a last day rush to the art store to get some supplies before they closed down though. I had a few days at the beginning of last week where I had so much to think about in terms of getting classes moved online that my mind was a blank in the studio. I seem to have pushed past that now that I have school under control. At least, I think it’s under control. It’s a work in progress.

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Last summer I made a number of graphite still life drawings. I knew I wanted to make paintings related to those compositions, but I have had a number of failed attempts with that over the past few months. I’ve developed two approaches now. One method is hard-edged and geometric and non-representational from the perspective of the viewer. The other is a synthesis of other techniques that are always floating around in the studio. If both work, then even better.

I’m also making some sculptures of heads out of scrap wood in the studio and around the house. I made a few like this years ago and never pursued it, but this seems like as good of a time as any to try again. I have time and a lot of bits of wood lying around.

I’ve found that if I draw, I think one way. If I collage, I use another part of brain. The same applies to painting and sculpture. Hopefully it all feeds together as enough time passes.

Beyond art, if the rain would ever let up, I could work on my yard more. Our flower beds are a disgrace to the neighborhood.

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I have walked 3-4 miles everyday for the past few years and it’s been good for me physically and mentally, but I value it now more than before.

You can get a free 30-day pass to the Berlin Philharmonic’s digital music hall. We’ve been watching recordings of their concerts. I usually pick something from the 70s because it looks better.

The Met Opera is streaming for free as well. I’ll get to that eventually.

If you have an antenna for your TV, you can get Circle TV. They show re-runs of Hee Haw and they have the TV broadcast of the Opry, which has only been live on Saturdays. Marty Stuart played Jimmie Rodgers guitar last week.

I watched 4 episodes of the original The Outer Limits show yesterday while building a head.

I’m reading Charles Taylor’s A Secular Age, but it’s dense for my little brain, so I can only read a few pages before my head hurts. It’s 800-pages long so maybe I’ll finish it before 2021.

I started Philip K. Dick’s Valis a month ago. I should probably finish it.

I re-read Job while working on the Fable show. I didn’t realize that using that as an inspiration was going to fall in line so well with everything now. I’ll read it again and see if I should be thinking about it in the studio.

Attached are a few photos. Let me know if you need anything else. I hope this of some use to y’all.

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