Rusty Bucket

Rusty Bucket (at Carolina Beach)   watercolor   6.75 x 5

For me, painting is a solitary endeavor.  Many, many decisions to be made...even in the simplest of subject matter.  Making art, even sketching, while vacationing is an "iffy" activity.  It attracts attention from companions, and, in a way, separates you from them, which is not really a good thing.  Many folks assume that "painting at the beach" is something to aspire to.  Au contraire, pour moi.  The light is way too assuming, the subjects a bit trite.  And, truly, for me, the marrow is painting what you know, what you feel, in your everyday life...not in the idolatry of an exotic, while beautiful, location.  And yet the artistic soul revels in creation, and yearns for the moments to doodle both the pencil and the brush.  This small rusty bucket was perched on the picnic table at our Carolina condo.  An hour full of complete joy!  And...all the while...a storm brewing, the waves thrashing.  All of that became the memory encompassed in this rusty bucket.  A supremely sensual experience!

The painter must be solitary...For if you are alone you are completely yourself, but if you are accompanied by a single companion you are half yourself.

                                                                                                  Leonardo da Vinci

Sense of Snow

Narrow Bridge   oil/canvas   36 x 24

Winter is my favorite season....it allows for quiet contemplation, a good book by the fire (currently Smilla's Sense of Snow by Peter Hoeg) and, most of all, the bliss of solitude.  It seems that my best work arises from this "perfect storm".

When you start working, everybody is in your studio - the past, your friends, enemies, the art world, and above all, your own ideas - are all there.  But as you continue painting, they start leaving one by one.  And then you are left completely alone.  The, if you are lucky, even you leave.                                    John Cage

"Narrow Bridge" is currently on exhibition at Group Ten Gallery in Kent, Ohio.

I agree with Leon...

 ardo da Vinci who said:
    

The painter must be solitary...For if you are alone you are completely yourself, but if you are accompanied by a single companion you are half yourself.

And, so, I must apologize for wanting to be completely me....for avoiding conversation during the process, and for avoiding eye contact with those who wish to converse, to make a connection.  I love the extreme focus, the tunnel vision that painting provides.  And when artists in class need to take a break, I completely understand, but hope that their meanderings do not disrupt the creative time of others.  Painting, for me, is sacred.

Michelangeo said:

Painters are not in any way unsociable through pride, but either because they find few pursuits equal to painting, or in order not to corrupt themselves with conversation and so debase the imaginings in which they are absorbed.

Again Olivia   watercolor/mixed on paper   20.5 x 13

"Again Olivia" was painted from a model in two separate sessions with my earphones on.  I do enjoy listening to my own brand of music, but also enjoy being absorbed in my own imaginings.