Yesterday was the best day I’ve had painting in the past few weeks. The holidays and the distractions they provide had really knocked me out of rhythm and I’ve been struggling to get back on the path. I think this has probably been evident in the writing on this blog. Writing for this is a real chore when I fall out of my painting routine. I find myself struggling for things to say and words to express anything. The writing rhythm is definitely entwined with my painting rhythm.
But yesterday was good in the studio so I’m hoping to see some improvement here, even though I view this writing and my painting as very separate and different entities. I’ve always viewed writing as being an expression of what the writer knows and sees. On the other hand, painting to me is about expressing what I feel but don’t know and am incapable of expressing otherwise. Painting is more about intuition and the intangible for me.
Not to say that intuition and intangibles don’t play an important role in writing. But I can’t find them as effortlessly in writing as I can with a slash of color here or in the way a form plays off another in my painting. I don’t have to fill in detail, don’t have to create a whole scenario for my work to communicate.
I think that’s the distinction between the two forms. With writing, I must know what I am trying to communicate. With painting, I can communicate without knowing. In fact, it is preferable that I don’t know. The work that comes without trying to direct it is usually the best, graceful and filled with emotion. I don’t see that happening with my writing.
So, I must get back to the paints and gain a bit more rhythm, let the momentum carry me ahead. I’ll let you know how it goes.
Redtree Times 
nice sense of foreground middle ground and background. The rocks and water are an interesting element, don’t change a thing, but ever think about reflecting the red tree and brown trunks in the water in a loose wet on wet kind of way. sort of a soft mirror image of the top. just a thought for a possible future study.
the hip is awsome, still need to work on my flexibility a bit.
Very interesting post. The connection of the artist’s psyche and his or her work is always one of the first things I consider when I look at art. The culmination of each experience in our lives plays a role in every interaction we have with the world around and, obviously, finds a way into the art we make. Specifically with your work, I beleive I’m able to “see” more than the subject matter in each painting. Each piece has a mood, specific brush movements, a different energy that seems to express more than what is conveyed in the subject matter which adds another dimension to your work.
Thanks, Clint. Your words mean a lot to me and are greatly appreciated.
“With writing, I must know what I am trying to communicate. With painting, I can communicate without knowing. In fact, it is preferable that I don’t know. The work that comes without trying to direct it is usually the best, graceful and filled with emotion. I don’t see that happening with my writing.”
I found this so interesting, because the opposite (sort of) happened when I ventured into painting. In writing, I can set out to communicate something specific, but very soon find the undirected, spontaneous upwelling that interests me in my own words.
In painting, which I enjoyed a great deal because I love paintings so much (and was attracted to this website by yours) and found I had a facility for, I quickly ran up against not being able to let myself go. I blame it on a lack of technique and skill, but I suspect that isn’t true. That it’s a case of what you say here in reverse, when I let go in writing the words become shapely and filled with emotion. Because that happened less and less in painting, I ultimately set it aside. Now I satisfy the visual urge with photography, and do the word thing with my blog. All boils down to, where can we get out of our own way!
*”All boils down to, where can we get out of our own way!”* I never thought of it like this, that it is a matter of getting out of one’s own way and finding that medium that that takes us closer to the subconscious.Thanks for the insight!