So like, DUH to me!
This week I read a simple but very powerful enneagram meditation. I am still letting it soak thru my being like butter into hot belgian waffles. I want it to permeate every chunky crater. That is, quit trying to take care of everyone else and take care of myself. By taking care of myself I will bless others as needed.
So it seems time to write my own artists statement. I was very inspired and encouraged by watching Mikhail go through the process. I am reassured it is ok to be vulnerable. It is ok to not know all the answers. It is ok to rewrite it tomorrow. So quit procrastinating and let's do it.
OK. Why do I want to paint? I like the feel of paint going onto surface. I like mixing colors. Putting colors next to each other. I like it when the paint does stuff on its own after I walk away.
I like foreground and background like when the viewer is standing inside looking at an object with a window beyond that. Sunlight filtering in around the edges of the object & the window panes. I am curious why I continue to be drawn to this image/scene/view. It is usually ferns or other feathery green growth. And the green is very dark because of the backlighting. But here & there the light makes the leaves translucent. I like the anchoring grids of the window panes. Squeak said the grids gave her work a seriousness. I like grids because they offer something to tie your boat to so everything doesn't just float away into silliness.
I also like lighting coming through windows at only certain parts of the day. Dawn & pre-dusk. Incandescent light on the inside & violet sunset light on the outside.
I like shapes and edges, scraffitoed surfaces, layers, things almost hidden and hinted at. I love Cy Twombly's way of whitewashing everything, just everything. The way the form/structure becomes more important when washed over. By covering with white, something previously hidden is revealed. Significance is shifted.
Words, I love words. I love penciled words and painted brush strokes bantering or peacefully conversing on a surface. For me, Jasper Johns opened up the idea of using letters as objects. I love stories with hidden meaning that you have to dig for. Stories that cannot be written with words, but require the volume of paint. Stories that sound like children telling them. Sometimes a grunt or a hand gesture stands in for a word. The child is searching for the right word but he can only come up with a grunt or a hand gesture to try to explain himself. I like it when people paint like that. When it seems they are really digging hard to get at the deep truth. People like Squeak Carnwath or Mikhail Ally. They both make me want to paint back a reply to them.
That's it for today. Are you writing your artist's statement? Wanna share?