Relationships

I concentrated this morning so deeply that I forgot to turn my music on.  It’s hard to believe, looking at this photo, I’m sure.  The piece is developing with more interest than you can tell here.  When I came up for air, I was pondering what pulls me into such a deep and wonderful place.  

It’s the color relationships.  I love planting one color against another, making one place whisper quietly while another pops.  I’m thinking ahead a little about what I ultimately plan to do with each area of the composition but at times, I’m simply enjoying what colors do together or to each other.  

I think creating art is probably that simple.  I’m sure writers love stringing words together and beautiful gardens begin with a bit of moss.  I met a man recently who bought a piece of land and goes outside every morning with his sleeves rolled up.  He digs, researches, examines, transplants - with joy.  He stops to drink a cup of coffee and look up at the trees.  The piece of land is changing very, very slowly — and I have a feeling it will be stunning some day.  No doubt, he’ll know every stone, bunny, and wildflower on it.  He’s building a relationship. 

Valuing the simplest elements of what we do is where the peace is.  I think by slowing my pace over the last couple of years, I’ve rediscovered that.  Rediscoveries take patience too.

Does a palette count?

Yesterday my palette was more interesting than the painting I worked on.  Sad but true.  A painting is simply a series of decisions and I think my third decision was off course.  From there, I couldn’t get what I wanted from the painting.  It’s hard to figure out what happens in a case like that but I’ve learned from past experience that if I start over and try again, I’ll probably go down the same path.  It’s like my thought process has “dug a rut” (how’s that for southern?) and I need to completely leave the idea to get out of it.

Learning to work with wax has taken me back to a lot of the basic lessons of my first years of painting.  Actually, the first years of heartbreak!  I’m at that point where a couple of pieces are fairly successful followed by one that I simply didn’t ruin followed by one or two that I have to convince myself were worth the time because I learned something!  I’m learning so many things at once — choosing appropriate subject matter for the medium, mixing color, controlling the surface and creating texture, etc.  Basically, there are multiple things that could go wrong at any moment.  It’s called learning.  Some days I like it and some days (like yesterday) it’s humbling to the point of painful.

No pain no gain?  I HATE that saying!  I think I’ll go back and try again today :)