Benday and the Jets....

I do think I have figured out the Benday dot painting. If you know the close-together dots of the comic book and (particularly the early) Roy Lichtensteins, you may not recognize the influence, since the dots here are "so spaced out" (that phrase always reminds me of Elton John and Bernie Taupin's "Bennie and the Jets," I can't help it)... but the fact is that Lichtenstein, even though his art doesn't have as many (apparent) followers as Cubism, created something just as radical, a kind of departure for how we perceive space. And when you see his work in person, it gets to you. It certainly got to me. And so I have moved the dots away from each other to see if that would make that "space-between" any more visible. And then inside each dot is a piece of landscape, the skies, the grasses, the mustard flowers and a bit of vine from driving through Napa... and the mist, because it was raining, is everywhere else... and the tiled border, the three white squares, is for safety. And the painting seems joyful to me... I am delighted with it... I think it is done!