Maybe the path will become naturally straighter as I go, I don’t know; I guess I could decide to make it so at any time. But painting for me is a searching out and I’m not sure there has to be any goal other than expression for the moment.
These “completing” colors work as reflected light bouncing off an area of color; this gives atmosphere to the color–I am actually painting air, or better, the effects of it so that I feel I am looking through the colors rather than just at them.
I choose to paint quickly. By moving my brush quickly I avoid contrivances–my paintings become spontaneous reactions which is what I’m after. Also, it’s like drawing a large curve with pencil on paper–the faster you make the mark the smoother and surer it will be.
Every heartfelt work is autobiographical. It’s natural and inevitable that the artist, emersed in the process, will lose all that he is to the work and the work will tell on him afterward.
By whatever means or images I am moved to describe it I’m convinced that mystery is my goal. I could call it a feeling–how I feel when I see a certain scene or imagine it; there is this overall felt impression that is indefinable and deeper than the things or shapes, though everything about the composition speaks to it.
Once I was reading a very difficult book, struggling to get through it, and was asked by a close friend “why put yourself through that”. My thought was, “because I want to understand.”
An important factor in knowing when to stop is knowing where to begin and then staying focused throughout the process. It’s the idea of having something to say, from the beginning. If I know what it is I want to say at the start, if I know my aim and I don’t lose sight of it, then I am more apt to know when I’ve reached it.
When “good” drawing becomes the starting point instead of the finish line, when my goal is expression rather than rendition, I feel I am maturing. It takes time and I shouldn’t stop striving for skill, though, because this is what frees my creativity.
My goal, though, is to create a personal vision – to see and interpret my way. This takes effort and confidence. I believe unyielding advance is the path to enlightenment; perseverance is the key to belief in, and development of, ones own voice. It is a process.
Another kind of influence and, to me, the most important kind to a creative person’s life and work, is encouragement. I don’t discount the other artistically molding experiences of course, they are quite important. But to touch someone’s heart to the degree that they are inspired to go further is indeed a high calling.
Those beginning painters who strain after techniques that will produce a tree, a grassy field or a cloudy sky should listen to Van Gogh:
Preconceived notions about a subject and about one’s self can hinder realistic interpretation. But, focusing solely on realistic interpretation can hinder my empathy towards that same subject. Of course both form and vision are present in great art, the percentage of which is determined by the individual artist.
Nature is Life personified. Life and nature exist in the same way Kandinsky said, in Concerning The Spiritual In Art, that color and form exist; color must have form to be, yet form can stand alone. Nature can stand alone but Life, to be seen, requires a natural vehicle to carry it to the viewer. Yet form, or nature, is “dead” without Life.
DEATH OF A PAINTING AND THE FIVE STAGES OF GRIEF
Elisabeth Kübler-Ross’ five stages of grief are quite apropos in describing my usual process of coming to terms with the death of a painting – a painting that isn’t going to make the grade and finally, ultimately, must be destroyed. Here are the stages as they relate to how I cope.
WHEN IS A PAINTING READY FOR THE TRASH
I recently began a discussion on the above question at Linkedin.com in the group True Artist: Living The Art. Specifically, how and when does the artist know, while in the process of doing a piece of art, that the work is not going anywhere and must be destroyed or redone. Here are some interesting insights from other artists on my query
WHEN IS A PAINTING READY FOR THE TRASH (PART 2)
I recently began a discussion on Linkedin.com on the question “how and when does the artist know, while in the process of doing a piece of art, that the work is not going anywhere and must be destroyed or redone”. Here are some interesting insights from other artists on my query.
