This is a painting of mine that Fran has. It gives us encouragement as we see the plants going into their winter sleep. Spring will come.
I have a friend who does not seem to value her art. She often says that it is just a piece of paper after all. I try to convince her that the paper is not the point. It is the part of her soul that she places on the paper that makes it worthwhile.
The truth is probably in the middle somewhere. I get freedom in my painting by thinking that it is, after all, only a piece of paper. If I screw up, I can start over. It is, after all, only a piece of paper. But then, after the painting gets started and is complete, it is so much more than just a piece of paper. To me it is a sort of miracle. I start out on the clean piece of paper, make some marks and add color, and it becomes something that has not been before. Great fun.
During the last year of his life, when Paul Klee knew he was dying of scleroderma, he painted over 1200 paintings. He just went at it hammer and tongs. One of his paintings looks like a kid with a brown grocery sack over his head. I've thought about the tragedy of that painting. How that must have been how his face felt to him. His face had become a hardening mask. If one does not know the story of his life, the painting is still interesting. Think... He painted over three paintings, on average, each day. It encourages me to just let it rip. Eventually, you will have the courage to let your soul out and onto the paper. Then the paper becomes a painting. And a painting is much more than just the paper. A painting is a life.
Take care
5 comments:
That painting is one I love. It is on lone from the artist. I have bought some of your paintoings but this one is on loan. I am reading a book by John Wood, a former executive of Microsoft who gave it up to bring books and schoolrooms to people in Nepal. I rmember giving them the books I had weeded from our collection when I was a librarian. I am trying to remember the Arnquist girl's name who did this in --was it Cambodia? ˇThis man has established an ongoing thing. "Leaving Microsoft to Change the World. tell her about this book. Fran.
I should proofread more often. Fran.
Vicki, remember you best painting is one that developed out of discouragement!!! It is the "Bomb" to borrow the expression from previous blogs!
I would love to be a mouse in the corner when he is painting 3 paintings a day! What a marvel!
I would love to have time to dabble in painting. I know for fact that my paintings would look "nothing" like they would have when I was a kid. Conversation for the gym. Remind me.
Paul Klee was wonderful and his art is so great. I don't know what it is, but his drawings and paintings are so honest somehow...
Naomi inspired me to comment more on the blogs that I read rather than just be a "lurker". Your post has also inspired me to keep up with the blog we started on our honeymoon and keep writing.
In the same way that you feel starting out with a painting, posting to my blog feels inconsequential starting out - just type something in and press a button. But once it is done, it is this amazing thing that I can look back on and share with my friends and actually becomes much more important than the original act.
Thanks for the insight, Vicki!
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