A Little Life
I’m happy to get to see professional painters in a couple of weeks.
I’ll be in Georgia with the Olmsted Plein Air Invitational.
See all the painters here:
https://www.olmstedartsinc.org/artists
For the first few days, I’ll be with Kyle Stuckey, Kelley Mogilka, and her husband, Mason Williams.
A little about them follows:
Kyle lives in Charleston (poor guy) with his family.
He also maintains a Patreon account where he offers instruction: https://www.patreon.com/KyleStuckey
Kyle is a nice guy who is making good paintings and making it happen in Charleston.
Really impressive.
Kelley and Mason live in Laguna Beach, California.
They teach at Laguna College of Art and Design.
Mason is from Carmel, California, and Kelley is from Edmond, Oklahoma.
They are really good at what they do.
Also,
I get to introduce Martin Kotler after I arrive in Atlanta.
He is from New Jersey, but lives around Washington, DC.
His Premier Coup link on his website shows works that would comfortably sit alongside the fresh work of the Impressionists.
I look forward to seeing his offerings in Atlanta.
As for me,
I’ve had nothing to say for months.
My work schedule changed, so I no longer have two days in a row to work.
No momentum. Can’t string ideas or motivations together. I’ve missed deadlines. Didn’t submit to shows. Lots of excuses.
This will be a quiet year, it seems.
I think I’m OK with that.
Nevertheless,
I still converse with myself.
Here is some of a conversation:
Each painting is like a little life.
Are you thinking or are you painting?
The mind wants to understand, wants to know.
With those desires, the mind can become a kind of tyrant.
We may never really feel this way because, in the moment, it feels completely natural to want to know as much as we can.
However, there will come a time when the mind comes to a river it cannot cross.
Of course, we want to understand things, but there comes a time when the mind is no longer helping us.
The desire to know and to understand, in its tyranny, grabs our mind like an eagle grabs a squirrel,
and if we are not careful, the end result is the same.
But every painting is a wonderful opportunity to practice giving over control to something else
And so I ask, are you thinking or are you painting?
If you’ve never considered the difference before I invite you to do so now if for no other reason than to be a thought experiment.
In our real lives, we will come to a river, so to speak that the mind cannot know and cannot understand.
And that will be at that time when our true captain is called upon the lead us.
The mind will turn away from the helm, take one look at the nous, and the nous will rise and guide us, as it has been patiently waiting to do for our entire life.
——
Remember your why and remember yourself.
If you can remember - and keep in mind - why you are painting - broadly and specifically - then you will remember who you are.
“ oh yeah, I like to make a thing look exactly like a thing or I really just like flat color shapes…”
Remember your why and rediscover yourself.
Your why will be a mirror unto yourself.
The nous (vóος) is the "eye of the soul" or the highest faculty of the human person, located in the heart, designed for directly perceiving God and spiritual realities. It is distinct from the logical intellect and emotions, serving as the locus of the image of God within humanity.
