Becky Reyes: Blog

Last night, my Bisbee Enclave partner, Charlene Mitchell and I met up with Gretchen Baer, one of our most prolific and inspiring painters. We had dinner at POCO and hightailed it up to Gretchen's studio at Central School Project. We talked and enjoyed the evening, then something very magical happened. We decided to study this one particular painting of the Bisbee waterfalls. Gretchen pointed out a face in the water and we saw it immediately, then, hidden in the brushstokes, we found other figures, faces, animals, angels, birds, and the more we looked, the more we found. It was exhilarating! AND, later, when the conversation turned maudlin (I was recalling my former life steeped in depression), Gretchen cut me off and said, "let's have a dance party" so we danced and I let loose those shackles. We danced, moving in her dimly lit studio, with only her paintings witness to our movements, blurring the lines between reality and dreaming.
 
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The first time I saw Gretchen paint, I was enthralled. I watched as she glopped paint on her canvas and worked it, then reached for another preposterous color and worked it some more. As she added all these seemingly random colors, I kept thinking, "Now how is she gonna make THAT work?", but she persisted, blending these colors, adding glops of paint and working it, gently massaging the colors together. I also noticed that Gretchen didn't talk much, in fact, she seemed to be caught up in her own painting, in what I could only describe as a meditative state. When she was finished, all the colors blended beautifully to create a dreamlike painting of a woman, with a golden orb, and a few other details I can't seem to recall at the moment. I think there was some tequila involved.
 
Gretchen then handed me a paintbrush and an old window blind and said bluntly, well, she ordered me to "paint something". So I took her cue and started glopping paint on my window blind. As I continued, I realized I was letting go of my compulsion to be exact. I desired to be free of symmetry and precision. I found myself studying my movements at first, wanting to make broad, loose strokes, being braver in my application of paint. Then I found myself NOT studying my movements, but just MOVING with my paintbrush and paints. Dancing with my window blind canvas, splashing paint carelessly on the canvas and working it to create a calavera (skeleton for the uninitiated) sitting at a table, head resting in one hand, and a shot of tequila in the other. I don't remember the caption I added, something about forgetfulness, but I loved it. And yes, yes, I remember now, there was tequila involved.
 
I don't know what became of my painting. I left it in Gretchen's studio, and in Gretchen's world, sometimes one long-forgotten painting will be transformed into another fine work of art, whether on an old window blind, an old car door, or a fine-art canvas, but the memory is distinct. I'll never forget how Gretchen helped me break out of my precise little world and paint outside the lines. And I like to imagine that my painting is still there somewhere, hiding underneath more paint, a ghost of a memory.
 
That day, I loosened up a little. I discovered a part of me that longs to break free, be more spontaneous, learn more about myself. That day, that lesson carried over into my musical life. Since then, I have learned songs I NEVER would have tackled before. I pick up my guitar and splash musical color all over my canvas of sound.
 
Oh, and one more thing Gretchen birthed in me? The desire and the impetus to GO FOR IT! To heed the call of my desires. To create my life filled with art and music. To see beauty everywhere. To look within the brushstrokes and see the hidden messages, to see the dark AND the light, then to back up a bit to see the whole picture, in all it's glory.

And this is the painting I bought for myself. Gretchen calls it The End of Another Beautiful Day. I see any and all of us, and here come the musicians at the end of the day to bid goodbye to the sun and welcome the moon. Bitchin' Gretchen.