Artistic Visiion - The Spirit Within

I am not producing any new work right now but am busy looking back at where I’ve been, trying to identify where I’m going with this journey that is visual ‘art’. Listening and analyzing comments from other artists and generally ‘learning’ about art. And thank you all for your comments, they are all so helpful

I am looking at artists who produce something meaningful on canvas or paper every day and have for the past thirty or more years.  This road into producing art is fairly new for me; only two years ago did I embark on doing what I love best....producing visual art.  So please bear with me as I take this journey and try to figure out just where it is I am going down this road. 

What motivates an artist to produce the exquisite paintings I see on other blog sites. Jennifer said when she paints a scene she becomes the scene, when she paints a tree she becomes the tree. Another artist friend says he creates while listening to music; and, by the way, he creates wonderful, colourful, alive and  happy images that always leave me smiling and with good feelings. 

I’ve been turning various comments over in my mind. I tried listening to music as a creative tool; perhaps I need to reevaluate my musical selections; I haven’t quite mastered the knack of using music to develop and interpret my visual images.  I do have background music when painting or working in my studio but I am not certain the music is a contributing factor to the end results.

As artists I believe we have a commitment to transform the visual, the immediate vision into a work of art that is not only inspirational for the artist but also for the viewer; that moves the viewer from the everyday mundane to an inspired, free spirited, timeless plateau.  This is what I eventually hope to achieve in my meanderings on  canvas.  The 'how to' do this is my current quest.

Looking back through my small portfolio … again looking bac iin order to move forward; I can identify  what Jennifer describes as becoming one with the scene or one with the object – when painting a tree, for example, she becomes one with the tree; becomes part of the scene.

The two selections here today represent what I fear I have lost in my current artistic attempts.  They both represent a part of 'me'.  They were both conceived while on the Atlantic coast visiting an aunt who was hospitalized for a long period of time. Both scenes are from the area around the seniors complex where she hoped to live after release from hospital. Both were painted with her in my heart and the love we had for one another.

The Silent Sentinels were the guards at the entry to her new home, the Misty Morning was the river behind where she would live. With these two paintings I did insert myself into the paintings. Both were inspired at the break of dawn as I made my way to the hospital to spend the day with my aunt.  I knew I wanted to include the early morning opalescent sky in the sentinels, and the quiet of dawn breaking over a misty river as it wound its way with a frenzy to the ocean.  As I painted I could feel the misty morning, the colours of the sky; as my brush worked the canvas I could feel every detail of this painting, the mist, the smells of the earth; the gentle brush of salt air about my face. In Misty Morning I could feel the flow of the rushing water, I was living in the river mist of the morning. And they worked; at least I think they did. My spirit infused both these paintings.

How do we hang on to this creative process; the ability to envision, to translate the spirit of our self into our canvas.  I fear I have lost this ability -- I have many, many subsequent paintings which lack the spirit within.  I find I have been painting for the sake of painting and I do not like what I am producing.  If what I see on my easel isn't moving me, I certainly don't expect it to move others!

Someone, I don’t know who, said: ‘the painting is always there waiting for the artist to release it’. I don’t want to just ‘release’ what I see, I want my paintings to ‘fly’ with an unfettered spirit and towards this end I keep searching.

Thanks for your comments; they helped me through a difficult day yesterday undergoing various medical procedures. Back today to the world I love….the world of art!  And thank you for taking this journey 'back' with me.


Enjoy another artistic day!