Introspection, or ‘sitting in the silence,’ is an unscientific way of trying to force apart the mind and senses, tied together by the life force. The contemplative mind, attempting its return to divinity, is constantly dragged back toward the senses by the life currents.
—Paramahansa Yogananda
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I often consider my landscapes as being deeply introspective even though by their very nature they are outward looking. They are most often scenes where the central figure– the Red Tree in most cases– finds itself in a moment and place where the inner and outer, the mind and the senses, converge.
It is a moment of calmness, one that allows the mind to expand and soar outside itself, to see the world and itself from new perspectives. It allows it to see all that it is and is not. To see all possibility, paths that are open but not yet visible. Perhaps even a return to divinity as the words of the great Hindi yogi Paramahansa Yogananda states in the quote above.
I like the idea of this juxtaposition of contrasts, the inner and the outer set side by side, each strengthening the other so long as they stay in balance. I can’t say that I go into a painting with that as a goal in the front of my mind. I think it’s just one of those things that when you recognize it in the final product realize that it was what you were looking for even though you didn’t know it at the outset.
And perhaps letting it slip from your consciousness was the key all along. Trying too hard to find something so elusive usually ends in failure. But just letting things go without placing too much emphasis on any aspect sometimes brings what is important to the forefront.
I know that in this new painting, a 15″ by 30″ canvas titled Introspection, that how I see it now had little to do with where I initially thought it would go or say. At its start I never gave a single thought as to leading it to the message that it now holds for me. I just let the paint work, let my mind move freely in the forms and color to release what it ultimately held.
So maybe that is the key– to free the mind from the senses as Yogananda says. Easier said than done…
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The painting above, Introspection, is included in Part of the Plan, my solo show opening October 29 at the Kada Gallery in Erie, PA.
Redtree Times 