FINDING THE FREE ONE

 

You sense there is this other more creative you just beyond the horizon. Trying to reach it seems to only move the horizon farther away. Finally you escape beyond your inhibitions expressing your true self, your are free at last. The great ones find that place over and over again.

Paintings are a good subject matter for all this. They have no real implications other than for you. They can be tossed or treasured depending on the outcome. The good ones taking on a life of their own. Painting seems to always start with the present you, a few lines on a canvas. Your inhibitions competing for attention. Then you begin adding color spreading and blending them over those simple lines. Stepping back to get a sense of what background should be there, adding the complimentary colors to make it. 

Now the basics are all there. You might pause and stop here, your inhibitions applauding your effort. Yet, you might find courage to move on creating the world you truly envision. You reach for a special tool like a pallet knife, sponge, a flat board, anything to add different marks you sense. The beauty is that with painting, no matter what you start to create the result will be different. You begin to get a sense of balance in the painting. A magical place where color, shapes and marks all come together.

Joan Mitchell, the famous abstract expressionist, once related that she kept observed landscapes in her mind, later painting them as her mind saw them. Maybe that’s the magic, creating things our mind and being perceives. Images that set us free and feed our souls. No matter how hard to find, a horizon worth the struggle of the journey…