yard sale stripes and agnes martin

When I saw a hanger full of very fancy ties lying on the couch after one of James' Saturday yard sale outings I thought, what is about the stripe that I'm so atrracted to? I think about stripes a lot and draw them over and over.  I could easily slip into to painting only stripes for the rest of my days. 

My friend, who is not an artist but indeed loves art, saw a link to this Agnes Martin video  and sent it my way. She said she thought of me because of   "1. abstraction, 2. stripes, 3. how she talks about art".  It felt good to have someone not familiar with Agnes Martin see her work and say 'i see you in here somewhere'. 

I've watched this many times over the years and every time I take away a new gem. For example, this  'vacant mind' idea she speaks of is a place I spend a lot of time trying to get to. Thinking is important in the studio, but not thinking is equally as important.

Agnes Martin Interview (20:00 version, 1997) from Chuck Smith on Vimeo.