A few years back, one of my painting sessions began when I was drawn to a bright blast of light radiating from behind some trees on the edge of the Tallulah riverbank. (At the time, I
was reading again Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkein.) As the painting progressed, Tolkein words describing Lothlorien kept floating in and out of my awareness.
This kind of experience is an expressive side of creating visual art. It happens when something resonates so strongly that it hangs around in our
heads while the work is evolving. The miracle of the creative process is that something of whatever it is WILL get translated within the painting.
One problem in painting is balancing that expressive side with the structural side of what's happening in the work. My concern was finding the
right degree of brightness within the light without blinding the viewer or making the work look too saccharine. I wanted to make it just bright enough in the right places to convey the experience of it.
It's very much like getting the right volume in music without blowing out everybody's eardrums, or for a poem, choosing words
strong enough without screaming. It's this kind of balancing act, among other challenges, that keeps me painting and drives my curiosity deeper and deeper into what makes a painting work.
PREPARING FOR THIS KIND OF EXPERIENCE
When we take ourselves through focused exercises designed to inform our decision making skills--exercises for their own sake, not
attempts to make paintings--we train our brains and our muscle memory so that while expressing ourselves, we make structural decisions automatically. That's when the painting process fills us with pleasure and joy.
Enjoy this season where the focus is light!
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