While I’m immersed in painting, each brushstroke becomes a lesson in seeing. It looks backward and forward at the same time; it sums up and refreshes previous brushstrokes while entering new territory. I think of each brushstroke as a narrative with a beginning, middle and end that builds with other brushstrokes into the overall “story” of the work. My thought and feeling associated with the brushstroke depends on many factors: inspiration, awareness, the reach of my imagination, my capacity for intense concentration that day – and even the barometric pressure. Within the painting’s structure, edges intrigue me particularly because they determine the separation or connection of imagery over boundaries. The inter-relation of contrasting features also interests me enormously.
If the painting works, it almost paints itself, building a sense of flowing energy and release. I aim for this release – a sense of freedom, a feeling of expansiveness and peaceful calm that is casual, reassuring and fully awake. I also aim for flexibility and openness to new ways of sensing space and form. After the exercise in seeing that painting gives me, the real world becomes ever more exciting and interesting – a visual paradise. Art is like a storage battery – an energy field that can recharge us for life.
October 7, 2008 – 8:44 pm
