I found these images on line, without credit to the artist that made them, so I don't have that to post but wanted to keep these images here anyway. I feel like they would be friends with the paintings I have in mind to make. A kind of crossing over of spaces, time, and dimension. Dimension is such a funny word and I can't say it or hear it without thinking of The Beasty Boys song with the "another dimension, another dimension, another dimension, another dimension", or the Twighlight Zone, so sci-fi. Which, are things I like so it's okay. But the idea of parallel dimensions, is sort of mind blowing, isn't it? And something I think about. And that seems like sort of a new-agey thing to be thinking about trying to paint but that's what's happening people. If I had been a better student, and if it had occurred to me to study these things, maybe I would have been a scientist. In another life maybe. These things fascinate me. And thrill me. Truly. I hope I can make some paintings that hold some of the mystery of this life that we are living. I am hoping that they will convey something about time and memory and our deep connections to each other and to places and spaces we inhabit. I want them to be simple and strong and hold you in space in front of them. I hope they will hold the viewer for a while. And I want the viewer to feel like they are in a space within the painting. And that it makes them want to linger there and wonder. This is why I got canvases that size. They could feel like you are standing in a space, life sized, like you are right there.
These two images here may be a little over the top for me if they were just paintings. They are more like book cover art. They are saying more than I would want to say. There is a lot of information. But they also make me stop and wonder and sort of delight in the "what if" that they suggest.
A painting professor I had in college asked us what makes something art. He said it was intention. If you make a plate of pancakes and call it art, it is art. Then he asked what makes "good"art. He said he thought it was the art's ability to make you ask questions. This was such an important idea to me. And I believe it to be true. If I can make some paintings that will stop people from walking by and take a minute or more, to wonder about them, then I think I will have accomplished something.
Another thing I learned in college is to throw out my first idea, it is usually not very good. And I have been a little nervous because I though that this idea I have for these paintings was my first idea. But I am just realizing I had really been wanting to make paintings of ghosts for a long time. And that is along the same lines as this but that was the throw away idea. This is better.
A poetry teacher in college said to me once, "These poems are good. You already know what to leave out." I loved that. It reminded me of a drawing I made in high school. It was the first drawing I ever made without lines. It was a pencil drawing and it was just shading. To me, it looked so real. Without the lines telling you it was a drawing. I think you can over say things and they lose their mystery. Things that are obvious do not need to be looked at for long. I hope I leave out the right things and choose just the right ones to leave in.
I guess art school was good for something. Good for making art.
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