like clouds 2

The title is taken from a short poem (a jueju, more or less) I composed while meditating on patterns left by salt spread on concrete and stone walks in my Chicago neighborhood to keep ice from forming:

salt leaves ink brush lines
on gray stone like clouds
when blue sky meets brown
earth it takes me home

The snow has mostly melted quickly this winter (2022-2023) and served as a vehicle for the chalk white salt on gray and gray brown surfaces broken at intervals by straight lines (gaps between paving stones and expansion joints in sidewalks) and by cracks and fissures formed (in spite of the gaps) with variations in temperature. The resulting patterns often make me think of landscape paintings done with ink and brush on rice paper, created as much by water carrying ink across the surface of the paper and the paper absorbing it as by the artist holding the brush. This piece is the second in a series playing with that process using water media (acrylic in this case) on paper.

Included in "A Change of Scenery" April 12 - May 18, 2024 at the St. Louis Artists' Guild.