Mugshot 87, H. C.

8x6 inches, oil on panel

This is a commission executed during my Russian Period, under the influence of the Russian instructors  in the classes I am taking presently, who put the flesh down in gradations rather than slabs, as I do when left to my own devices. It's very pleasant and meditative to work this way, although I can't easily get into that frame of mind. I'm hoping to habituate myself to this method through repetition. My instinctive way is more of a chain saw approach, to whack it together rapidly --not that there's no subtlety, but more of a discovery process, more muscular. I always laugh when I see that word used to describe painting, but how to get at these issues with words? The cess pool of words --- that's some  French painter's phrases, can't remember who, but yes.