Hierophany

A painting need not take a long time to paint. A painting can be done in five minutes. We deny ourselves so much good art if we believe great art must take time. Some time, yes. Fifteen minutes, a half an hour. Or, twenty minutes here, twenty minutes there, one painting a week. If we each did one painting a week we would collectively awe at our covered walls.

It is not difficult. I use acrylic. I paint blind. I have painted on wood and cardboard. Canvas is prime but money spent on canvases each week adds up. Canvases wrapped around a wooden frame are great because you can hang them once the paint is dry. In such a case, paint the sides. Voila a painting.

My Christmas gifts this season are paintings I have done. Self-absorbed? Maybe, unless the paintings are good. (Some are some aren't.) But no money spent on stuff people might or might not like. Original art makes a good present. No money spent driving my SUV to the mall. No tough brain spells spent on decisions what or what not to buy someone.

Perpetuity. If I die tomorrow, by what will they remember me? My two degrees? My resumé? If each person I love has at least one of my paintings, I have some control over my legacy. I am leaving them something beautiful. And that makes me happier day-to-day.

I like acrylics. I don't use brushes. They are too hard to clean. I make strokes with my fingers and no two paintings are the same.

I paint blind. I pull a ski-cap over my eyes. I put my paints in a bag and I don't know what I'm pulling out. I just pull one, drop some paint. Put that tube down. Pull out another tube, drop some more paint. The problem, the fine line is this: you need to mix the paints because it produces intriguing results, like blown glass, one color inside another. Like a fly in amber. But if you mix the paints too much you get mud. I can go outside after rain and see mud. I don't need to put it on my wall.

I let things dry and cure. Takes a good week. Then I spray varnish. Supposedly the can contains no CFC's.

You can paint nothing or something. Painting nothing means just spreading paint around. Beatiful paintings are possible but sometimes you will be disappointed. If so, just whitewash and try again the next day.

You can paint something by keeping an image in your head as you move the paint around. I have painted a portrait of a friend and a geographic image of the nation of Iraq.

If you want a painting, send me an e-mail (randall_john@hotmail.com) and I'll send you one.

*Note: The term impatientism was coined by Ray Wisdom in November 2005 as I explained it to him on the phone.

This entry posted by J Rand : 18:30