Scales and Modes

My goal is to encompass through painting, all that I wish to say and experience. I know that sounds far fetched, but I do believe that it is entirely possible. There has to be a way that all parts of you can seep into the painting under the guise of form.

Exercising color paths, just as a musician will play scales and modes until, they begin to slip into the expression in form, without even knowing when they broke from simply doing the scale. This one way that I start.

I will occasionally walk around in the early evening with sketchbook and jot down fleeting impressions and guesses of what I think I see. This exercise can grow into sketches, which looked at a later date reveal unrelated hints to activate my imagination. While painting, these "drawings" are really more like a series of keys that help to unlock a larger whole.

This inspiration can come from just about anywhere. A movie, a walk, or the way the sunlight bounces of a porcelain dish. Closing my eyes, I will see even more. The trick is to be able to focus, and say something clear, without being literate.

Artifact

The painting itself is really an artifact of a visual language that arranges and rearranges. When the composition is complete it stays as such until it physically begins to deteriorate.

Just as a song is written, the painter must begin with that glimpse, something you thought you heard (saw). Something heard next to something different. Something seen-(imagined) touching down the composition to start.

A.P. Ryder

Charles Dekay on A.P. Ryder

"His pictures glow with an inner radiance like some minerals, or like the ocean under certain states of cloud, mist, wind. Some have the depth, richness and luster of enamels of the great period. He is particularly moved by the lapis lazuli of a clear night sky and love to introduce it with or without the moon. The yellow phase of the moon when she is near the horizon, and also occasionally when she is on the zenith- in Indian summer, or when fine smoke or dust is distributed through the air, find him always responsive to the mystery and poetic charms of twilight and deeper night touch him as they do poets. Ryder attempts to reproduce their actuality in colors."

I love the way Ryder clarifies the focus of his pictures. Even though there were others like him, he seems to pop up out of nowhere with no interest in any present art movement. He is clearly anchored in the tradition of great artists of the past, yet is in the present 19th century world.

I like this idea of inner light, glow and such. I think that is where painting is truly independent of any of the literate arts. The arrangements of colors-transparent, deep, opaque, thin washes- free dispersion of pigment in a variety of viscosities of vehicle.

Composing

Painters are very much composers, if you put it into musical terms. The painter doesn't just play someone else's music He always is composing, while playing.

The thing that I do not understand is why a 21st century composer would never consider not having had played and studied music prior to the 21st century, let alone the 20th. In the case of contemporary painters, most have done a master study here and there, I fail to see many developing a full understand of the language as the musician does. The ones that study techniques from the past usually never make the transition to make it there own. This is where the difference between musician and composer comes into play. The musician has to be able to play from all periods and enjoys this. The composer like the artist, is expected to have a full understanding of and is always a contemporary artist.

When I think of someone like Gershwin sitting down at the piano, I am reasonably sure that had the ability to experiment with the full understanding of harmony, melody, texture and rhythm. When I here recordings of him playing variations on his own works, I have no doubt that he has complete control over the music as well as the expression of his innermost feelings.

Studying color harmony and paint/pigment handling along with reading literature and science, helps for the better the appreciation of the medium.

20th Century / Dark Tones

With all the development in the past century in painting, I don't see how someone in this day can paint without incorporating or exploring fully this past era.

There is a deep hidden connection in the dark tones of color. They speak to each other in ways that are beyond our comprehension.

Celestial Compensation

"Painting-- presents him, and provides him in revelation of its treasures a celestial compensation of both artist and viewer."

Eugene Delacroix

Form and Color

The relationship between color and form is something that evades me. At dusk, I look at the local colors and see how they can kind of run into each other. Each thing is made up of its own material with its own molecular structure. The way the light interacts with this structure and reflects is how our perception is of it. Our perception also compensates for the change in light so we don't become confused when light changes.

As a painter, the representation of something should be at the discretion of the artist, and utilized to the most effective means to say what must be said.

I can't imagine a writer getting bogged down in the description to the point where it no longer says what his intentions are. He describes enough to touch off the imagination provided by the knowledge of the reader. The painter must also use this play on visual language to get exactly what he wants. This takes a lot of practice and the study of color and the properties of paint. Handling paint is not talked about by artists too much, but this is what there primarily doing all the time. There are so many ways to apply paint. I love having full control over how thick, thin, transparent or opaque the application. Knowing whether to fling and splash the paint on without touching the canvas, or scooching a grainy wash in with my finger.

Pantheism / Fear

Painting is the secret worship of God

The mark that seems like it's going to ruin it always pushes it to a better place. It's the fear that needs to be overcome.