A Word about Art

The Light and Shade of the Soul

The Light and Shade of the Soul- This, to me, whether conscious or unconscious, is what painting is about and what we connect with in the paintings we love. Join me in this written series, as I explore the painting process over the coming weeks and the way we look at or create paintings, through this lens. For artists and art lovers. I have purposely not planned more than a couple of steps ahead, so please share your thoughts and comments.

Before we pick up the paint brush, there are 3 approaches that I want to explore:

Spirit, Trust and Adventure

Spirit

"It is only with the heart that one can see rightly. What is essential is invisible to the eye" Antoine de St. Exupery

Which paintings do you love that capture something invisible but powerful about a place, person or a moment? It's that invisible component of magic that draws us in. How can we bring this mysterious quality to painting?

It may have been just a fleeting moment that you want to capture. Even so, if everything about the painting and every stage of painting it are focussed on conveying the spirit of that moment, then from the very beginning the painting is not really about what you can see, even if it is representational.

I often set out to capture 'Spirit of Place', that mysterious feeling of well-being that is felt in often beautiful or striking places. What the place actually looks like is much lower on the list of priorities.

And so to paint a painting that does this, we need to reconnect and be able to 're-experience' our experience of that moment, even if we are no longer in the place itself. We need to come back to that experience time and time again during the painting process, recreate it within ourselves and really get back to it. Before starting, and then reconnecting with it all the way through, remembering that this is the reason for painting the piece in the first place and not getting distracted away from this focus.

It's this experience, this elusive spirit, that is the guide for each stage of the painting that we will explore.

I'd love to receive your thoughts and comments, so please get in touch on Instagram, Facebook or by email-links at top of page!

Trust

Trust and switching between mind and feeling

Many people never start painting ( or they stop) because they think they don't know the 'rules' about painting or which techniques they 'should' be using. Even if you do know them, it's easy for all these rules about art techniques to leave us no longer trusting in our own ability to steer our way through the process of making art.

Being able to trust in your ability to do what you set out to do in art is much easier if you are using an experience or a sense of well-being within yourself as the guide. "Does what I've painted start to express that moment? What feels wrong or right about it? " Not only can no one argue with you about that feeling but it can also tap into something shared and more universal and why great works of art have the effect they do on so many people.

It's taken me many years to start to understand what components are needed to express this in my landscapes, a sense of well-being I call Spirit of Place.

Hopefully the short cuts that will follow will be helpful. I hope they are, but ultimately it's better if every decision is made with the experience that we want to convey in mind.

'Mind' is probably not the right word to emphasise however. Mind plays a part -"Which brush shall I use here? Do I need to wait for this layer to dry?" but it's important 'mind' doesn't get the upper hand (which it loves to do!) and that it's always serving the purpose of conveying the experience.

The process of painting switches continuously between mind and feeling and I found it a useful exercise to do to become aware of this switch in focus and to watch when it happens whilst making art.

Over thinking on techniques or next steps needs to be kept in its place before it takes over the process, as that will usually lead to an artwork that in some ways is perfect, but may look lifeless. It's also often the reason for a painting getting 'stuck'. More on that to come.

Instead there is the potential for the painting to become an exploration. A journey of discovery about what will convey that experience and the painting techniques may emerge more spontaneously from that.

And adventure and exploration is where we will go next...

I'd love to receive your thoughts and comments, so please get in touch on Instagram, Facebook or by email-links at top of page!

To follow:
Adventure and letting go of certainty
How does composition serve your goal?