Add to that the million daily photographs, the accidental flash even though these signs have been up since 1970; mass reverence flattening out the peaks and troughs. Finger prints on the walls and hurrying through. I always leave feeling like I’ve been to an idiot wake, wishing I could give the good ones a viking funeral. And the funny thing is that I totally understand the archiving instinct – the impulse, the photographs, the sanctum sanctorum. Regardless, a great museum can ruin a day.*

Still: the Lee Krasner really broke me up, and the Jasper Johns, and even the Pollacks (which I didn’t expect). All that texture! Reproductions don’t do them any justice. So I went home last Thursday and bought a few cans of polyurethane and extreme fixative to create a more affordable moonscape texture than I could with my impasto budget — paint is super expensive, even acrylics. After a few coats of coffee filters and liquid plastic I ended up with the below (photos are detail photos of two separate canvasses).

Still trying to figure out what I want to do on top of them, but realized, as I was brushing my teeth just now, how much they look like I just painted over one of those Pollacks with high gloss acrylic. I sorta dig that. Process!

*Not counting non-art museums, empty museums (which present a whole ‘nother array of conflicting emotions), or antiquities exhibits, which is why the Met or the Museum of Nat’l history are always a good bet!

• Shark (Process)
• Painting: Progress (2)
• Painting: Progress