This was inspired by the artwork of Walter Inglis Anderson as well as that famous Moody Blues album, along with –

Topographic maps. Botswana agates. The glorious colors of fall leaves. The aimless trails left by burrowing insects in wood. Cloisonné. Geodes. Fractals. Intestines and the villi inside them. The meandering shiny trails left by snails on spiderwebs and across fallen damp leaves. “Ghosts of leaves” – Tannin stains on sidewalks left from falling leaves and rain in November. Rorschach tests. Misty mornings. The smell of decay and over-ripeness of wild muscadines rotting on the vine. Unknown secrets, so dark and forgotten that no one even knows they are secrets anymore.

Shrouds, palls, and veils.
Inlets, coves, and fjords.
Maps, puzzles, and labyrinths.

Lightning amongst the clouds on a humid late summer’s night. Tendrils on grapevines, blindly reaching, binding. How the letters don’t touch each other on Torah scrolls.
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I mostly let my mind go free and “filled in the blanks” on a blank piece of paper. I selected color moment by moment. There was no pre-sketching or planning. This took a little over an hour to do. I kept another piece of paper nearby to write the words for what I was seeing/remembering/being inspired by. I think of it as a sort of memory map that works both ways. It shows me where I have been and shows me where I’m going, and something more.

Watercolor on 8” x 6” medium-heavy paper.

A picture of something that inspires me. Found on a walk at lunch at the Hermitage library. There is a small creek that runs beside it. This is a wonderful log with insect-wandering-doodles.

Lines on a humid window.