Tonight in painting class Jamie was extremely helpful with helping me figure out what my true subject is and how to come closer to expressing it. At one point during the class I figured out that I really didn’t any still life that I setup myself, it seemed much too contrived. I was more interested in the studio space and its randomness than something I setup to look like what I thought of a still life.
So I didn’t get a painting done in class but I did setup a plan with Jamie’s help. The plan was to go home, stand in the middle of my living room and have my wife turn me in a circle while my eyes were closed. Wherever I stopped and opened my eyes this would be my painting for the night. And this is exactly what I did. I had Pattie spin me, which may have been a bad idea, because I thought I was going to puke after I opened my eyes. Next time I will have her spin herself and I will paint her random perspective.
Anyway, the painting I did tonight was exactly what I saw when I opened my eyes. I like how I painted the wall, the door and the carpet. But afterwards I noticed that my drawing of the lamp was really bad. I don’t think that was a problem though, because my big focus was the act of the painting and not exactly the painting itself. I loved the randomness, the unknown and the challenge. There is much more reality to this type of painting. This is our apartment, no frills, its not contrived, its just where we live, our natural space.
I have been thinking desperately about how to show my connection with nature in a painting and I think this route may produce that answer. But, I’m sure I need to do much more of these painting acts to figure it out. Maybe tomorrow I will spin in the kitchen and see what comes up.
