Being an artist is hard work. All artists know this to be true, and whether or not you're actively selling your work, the process is at times a lengthy and complex one. But this process is fueled by passion, by the will to create, inspire and share with the world.
Personally for me, my art and writing work are both callings in life. I do it because I love it. I share it because I want to. And, yes, occasionally I do make a dollar or two at it. Though I'd love for this work to be my livelihood, at this point in time it doesn't quite make the ends meet. But of course I am certainly hopeful and sure that in the near future it will..
In the meantime, I work a rather taxing schedule on a graveyard shift that leaves me little time during the day at all. I'm often tired and lethargic during my work-week and splitting your sleep schedule into 4 to 5 hour increments at a time is no easy task.
So, I have to make time during a tiny window of daylight and spend my days off writing and conjuring up ideas for painting.
This, however, is only one small part of the complex process of passion that I endure week after week. But, I love every minute of it.
The other night I finished a 30×40 acrylic piece which I've titled Dreamer's Door as seen in the main image on this post. This was a process that I began around noon and finally finished close to midnight.
Below is just a part of the process that took around twelve hours to complete.
The beginning. All things must start with a little color and a big idea. I'd already envisioned a piece with a geometrical center. In this piece I envisioned a rectangle for the impression of a door and left more light within the center of the canvas.
After adding a ridiculous amount of painter's tape to frame out the door, the fun begins by playing with colors. In this case, ultramarine blue and light violet.
And now.. We have a mess.. But it's SO much fun! And really, as in my last post, there is a method to the madness here. Looking closely you might see the long strip of painter's tape which is keeping a slightly off center strip of light color preserved for later manipulation.
Now, after removing the center strip of tape and a little wash with water and a few splashes of Viridi, and a few streaks of orange.. The door is almost finished.
And now there she is.. Dreamer's Door. A process of passion that lasted a beautiful (and quite messy) twelve hours.
I enjoy these moments while creating art, as brief as they might be, no matter when or how they happen. It is part of a path that I have never truly known where it would take me, and it doesn't matter because the journey has always been beautiful.
There is truly something magical and joyous in creating art, and I'm grateful for the ability to do so.
Artists, art scholars and critics all have argued over many years about the artistic quality of abstract art, non-objective art and non-representational art as a whole. These are typically all grouped together as what abstraction represents. Some even say that it's just random splashing of color for no particular purpose or goal. Others argue that it's the most raw of artistic expression.
I'll agree with the latter.
Abstraction is, for me, the most cathartic medium for expressing emotion, ideas and intentions. Some pieces might look haphazard, chaotic, and even completely incomprehensible, but the true artist in his most raw and vulnerable state is able to express his emotion, thoughts or feelings through the use of line, pattern and color.
The above piece I painted last night I've titled, Map of The Wanderer. This, as with all art is certainly open to anyone's interpretation. However, there is a specific focus and intent here.
In this piece it's clear the confusion that I, the wanderer face. The hectic line and pattern work represents the map, while the sporadic splashing of darker colors infers my emotional confusion on which direction to pursue.
In life, I am a wanderer. I've been lucky enough to travel and see most of the world and to gain valuable experience about life and people while doing so. But, in the most basic and pure part of my being, all the experience of the world leads me quite often to knowing no direction, following a map of blurred lines.
The intent of this piece is to bring the viewer into understanding the wayfaring soul, the desire to blow with the wind and to grace the surface of all places, even if only to touch them or lay eyes upon them once.
The abstraction allows the viewer to feel the wanderer's confusion, his feeling of misdirection and indecision. His map is confounding and worn, like his heart and his patience. The color pronounces the hefty burden of choosing his way, and his feeling of despair in not knowing which direction to travel.
The wanderer stands to the right of the map, looking on it with a wide eye of anguish, in a solemn expression of blankness. This is the look I know all too well.
I often find lessons and wisdom in art, an urgent feeling or a sense of the artist purging himself onto his canvas. I can even find this in the work that I produce and many times to my own surprise.
We should all purge ourselves and bare the soul. In doing this we find a peace that we may have forgotten.
To me, art is simply a unique, uninhibited expression of life, and pure abstraction can initiate the release of these thoughts almost subconsciously. In this respect, art and life are inseparable, as are the lessons they teach us.
Staring back at our own reflection, at our own work, we find a lesson that we unknowingly taught to ourselves.
Pursue only the map of the heart.
I remember when my daughter used to ask me questions about everything, the most random things. Like, Dad, what would happen if we all lived in a whirlpool?
How do you even begin to respond with a logical answer? Truth is you can't, but you still answer the question, to the best of your ability, and she always understands.
Life throws us these random curiosities sometimes, and each and every time we have to make our way through with our own understanding and experience. Art teaches us this value. Through simple childlike questions we learn and experience the creative drive that inhabits our spirit, and we express it in whatever functional way we can.
Sometimes, like a child, we have to test the objects of our creativity. We have to question the structure of whatever we choose to create. We have to see the result, ask and test the substance which we use on our palettes.
A simple swatch board is an artistic tool to be used for testing applications of color, blending structure, line and brush strokes. It may seem like just a simple rudimentary tool to be used as a key or a guide, but it can be so much more. In fact, the creation of the swatch board itself is a work of art all its own. It is an artful expression of the questions we must ask, and of the structure which we are attempting to find.
The swatch board is a childlike projection of our desire to both learn and create. It is a question of self-awareness, and of our surrounding world.
I invite all artists to create a swatch board. Play with the color, test the brushes. Make swirls, circles and patterns. Blend, brush and streak. See the birth of creativity within your testing of its gentle life.
All creative spirits should exercise this simple expression of life. It is a marker of what drives us to be creative. It's a child asking a question about whirlpools. It's why we share what's inside of us.
It's why we are who we are, in color, in patterns, in blends, streaks and spirals. It's the diversity of the world represented by one simple truth.
We all desire to share what's inside of us.
Enjoy your swatch board. Enjoy your life.
I've always been told that art needs to be comprehensible, that people should be able to understand it. But really, if you look at the variety of artwork in the world, not just contemporary art, but at all art over generations of time, much of it is not comprehensible. I'd say that either way, it is all interpret-able, maybe.
When I first started painting, and even back when I was drawing, doodling and sketching at a young age, I recall never having a goal. I never had a particular aim other than to just create something appealing to the eye. I never knew where to start and I didn't know when I would be done. I just began and allowed the pencil or the brush to take me into another world.
I believe that this is truly what art is about. This is about transporting the viewer into another world, another frame of mind, or into a part of reality that had yet been seen.
Art loves chaos. And in many ways, art is a charmed chaos, or, a divinely orchestrated chaos. It takes the chaos of the mind and transforms it into a view-able frame. This allows a window into our crashing thoughts, to the tormented soul, and into the uplifted heart. It is a beacon for the human spirit and a marker for culture.
Once in every great while, I allow the freedom of the brush to take hold. I simply let go and let the moment become part of reality. It is emotion, thought and muse. It unfolds as the brush touches canvas. It simply is. It wills itself into existence by taking my hand and working on its own.
Everything wants to live. Even Art.
The piece above began as a blank canvas. I had no picture in mind, no goal, no conclusion to my work. I just began, and it became. I still don't know what exactly it is, or why it is, but nevertheless, it is.
I believe we should all let loose the brush, and lose our inhibitions once in a while. While I create many structured and sensible pieces, the work that I allow to live without sanction is where my heart resides.Sometimes it is dark, sometimes it is light, but in the end, I believe that it is always a bit of both.
But really, that's not the point.