1994 Western Fragments

I continued making the out of doors paintings and making them large in my studio.

I thought of the black and white drawing underneath them as their subconscious. I wanted to expose it as an integral part, and reference to my eighties work.

The fragment was the result. The fragmentation allows for the cycle to happen and for me a kind of evolution.

There was a submerged narrative of birds replacing flowers as quest objects. I made a heirarchy of these the Western Tanager at top, and the Jays as a jangling in the mind Stevens often uses.

At one point I had seen a Western Tanager fly out into the sun.















from Clouds, leaves, waves.


Driving back to camp
high in mountains, roadways
nearing the tops of pines--
a Western Tanager, unconcerned,
flashes in the waning sun,
snagging a fly...
a merging of Imagination
and things as they are--

tired, making a way to camp.
Trying to figure, the pines in shadows,
dancing in the fire’s light,
amongst icy cold frightening stars,
curling down and away
inside a down bag, retaining a warmth.