The Energy of Art

After working at straightening up my desk and studio area last week I had that idea for a painting, remember? The painting tools were available and so was I. A good block of time with nothing else to do was before me. At least I had planned from the day before with the sketch, the technique, and the tools. Somehow the synchronicity was there and I took advantage of it.

The instruction in watercolor I had was a disaster, but I’ve been playing with the medium for a while now and whatever I’m doing seems to please me. It may not be how it’s supposed to be used, but hey, I’m allowed to change it up! The technique of just applying the paint to the paper without thinning sounded interesting enough to try. Oil painting is what I’m used to and this seemed close to how I worked in the past. I mixed color on the palette, but then I would mix again on the canvas. It worked for me.

I used a limited palette of basic colors from two different paint companies, Holbein and Maimieri Blu, in tubes. I think I liked the Holbein better, but I’ll have to experiment again in other techniques.

Without wetting the paper first, I dipped into the paint with a large brush. I began to shape the petals of the flower adding color where I felt like it belonged. The photo I used was just a guide for where the light and shadows fell, and for the basic colors. After that I was on my own.

The act of painting was energizing. I could feel the electricity of the connection with the painting surface through the brush, to my fingers holding it, up my arm with my body and mind totally engaged. There was no talking in my head which usually has a hundred conversations going on at once. Delicious silence and all the attention was on the painting process!

The end product was not the agenda. I wasn’t sure what art my painting time would produce and I really didn’t care. To be able to move into that realm of daydream/energy/action was the focus. The means was the medium and the technique, which would justify the end, so to speak.