Musicality

Rothko wanted to raise painting to the level of poetry and music. The idea of musicality of a painting is interesting. I am facinated when some desperate mark or color can add to this superior structure beyond what I could conceive.

Sustain

Coming back and looking at the painting for me is an intellectual activity. Just like reading the classics. It is very important to understand reading of painting. This is a secret that will sustain you. It will help you grow and track your development.

3D Color Tree

The way that colors are revealed on my imagination is very fast and has no room for reason. In order to follow in this accord, I must be very organized on my palette. My colors are organized in respect to both hue angle and value. The only problem is that you need 3 dimensions to do this because the CIECAM planes are in 360 degrees and black white and gray are all in the middle. The question is, Where to put the greens?, and how not to mix up dark yellows oranges and reds?

In order to do this I have to continually reorganize my palette. Color must be seen and used associatively, it cannot be reasoned.

Content will always reveal itself in the most unpredictable ways. The best is not to think about it and use your instincts. I think about how Rothko conveys his tragic view without any image. I also think about how Titian digs deep into the mysterious content of his late paintings and what is being said by both is essentially the same. Content is not the subject matter solely. It is what is really being said, what is at the heart of being communicated.

Getting color to speak in ways that cannot be communicated by any other means is what painting is all about.

Atmosphere of Tragedy

Somehow, I have to get the painting to speak the whole tragedy.

Not through the depiction of images, but the whole of everything. The mood, the atmosphere, the way every color speaks in its own mysterious way to indicate the very specific and general at the same time.

It's always unpredictable how the results come about. Of course that's why you continue to do it.

Dusk

With honest devotion to the painting I think that you will stumble on the real from time to time. This realness will be inside the poetry.

I like to draw at dusk. This is when I see better.

If I walk as I draw, it's like the whole juice gets flowing and I just might make the marks that will point towards something larger than myself.

Associative Color

Since color is associative, it's important to continually mix and see the color combinations before you on the pallet. With my temperament, I have to keep my palette clean.

I love it when you exactly what to do without thinking.
You're in trouble when you do what you think you should do.
It's best to do what you must.

Excess in the true way. Art does not know compromise. There is a structure to tap into.
It only comes when you loose your fear.