'Oksana' 16x20....
.....was done at her sister's home in January of this year.
I'm posting it because I'm teaching a class called Intuitive Painting that starts this coming Tuesday, March 5th at the Winslow Art Center. It is filling up but still has a place or two.
The conditions for this painting were difficult. The light behind her hit me in the eyes causing a glare in both my face and across the canvas. The more paint I put on the worse it became. Once the canvas was covered I actually couldn't tell what color or value I was mixing. I was doing it by the seat of my pants. I assumed it would be an absolute failure once I got it into good light and could see.
Well, it seems OK, and reminded me of all the times that when it was the last pose of a model or when the sun was rapidly setting or during a night painting that many painters go into 'automatic mode', painting like a whirlwind and just trusting to gut instinct. So often the best things happen when we are forced to get our rational minds out of the process and allow our intuition to take over. Somehow it works.
Perhaps we make painting too much of a intellectual thing, not trusting to all our years of training, doubting our own guidance system.
I haven't taught this kind of a course before so I'm giving it all I have to see if increasing the ability to use intuition can improve and strengthen our art. Perhaps getting all our internal 'stuff' out of the way will be a good thing. By the way, Art and Fear is a good book to start the wheels moving about all kinds of art things, including intuition and trust.
Come if you can. I'd love to see you.
I'll be back. Thanks for looking.
