Some Thoughts about Painting

"Usually I am on a work for a long stretch, until a moment arrives when the air of the arbitrary vanishes, and the paint falls into positions that feel destined. "

Philip Guston

I love to paint.  It seems every time I feel the desire to paint there is an awful lot of broo ha ha going on in my head regarding how to approach it. Needless fretting.  Insecurity. Anguish. My desire to get it right ...not make mistakes.Heres the thing  I've needed to learn time and again; painting is all about making mistakes.  For that matter,  any creative endeavor is all about making mistakes. How many times I've needed to remind myself of this. The key to getting working is getting working.

 I'm a great workshop taker.  I love workshops and or continuing ed classes.  I think  they can be magical for someone who feels in a rut  as I often have,  especially in my earlier life with young children and financial obligations to provide room and board for all of us.  My treat would always be to sign up for a short course at an art college or night school,  studying whatever was pulling me in at the moment.  The most important thing i learned from taking art classes of any kind is that the teaching inevitably is all about assuring students that they have permission to jump right in .  Be willing to make mistakes.  One of my favorite teachers ever was the artist,  Tim Hawkesworthy .  He was great to listen to talk about making art.  He said that when it gets painful, when you're stuck and especially when you are embarassed by what you are painting,  you are on the right track.  Wow.  So true!

The first painting I ever sold was a  small painting that was such  a hopeless mess that it was painful for me to look at and I actually needed to put it in the trash to avoid looking at it.  Days later,while working on another painting, I retrieved the trashed painting telling myself I'd use the canvas to work out a color question...nothing to lose,  just use it as I would use a scrap of newsprint.  within minutes that painting was transformed. Thats the power and magic of painting.  There's always so much more going on than we think.  Thats why art making is important. Its all about problem solving.  Resolution.  New resolution.  Creative engagements crack open limits of all kinds in our minds in our worlds.  We don't know what we don't know.  

Painting is an act of trust and bravery.  Its not for cowards.  Painting is also a great way to practice challenging ones own cowardice.  To practice what it means to be brave and fearless.  Seriously.

oil on masonite 10"X 14" Coco Berkman

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