Thursday, July 7, 2016

Painting Blind: instinctually painting from memory



I saw an extremely vague image of calvary the last time I went to church. It was an amazing image that I could barely decipher but it has stuck with me.

The colors were rich and vivid and they streamed across the canvas in varying complementary and discordant hues. Some parts appeared very clear and other pieces were just barely evident.

I have worked in the past from memory but in recent series I prefer to have some reference image. This time was almost completely from memory and even the memory was vague.

It’s a feeling that you are  painting as the image paints itself, it is an awkard feeling that forms from some divine place. If you think too much you start muddying up the colors, you must have a feeling that whatever color or detail needs to be perfected you will instinctually know it.


It’s a very different feeling from the deliberate act of painting a clearly planned vision. Instinct and faith are the only tools I have when painting blind. Next post is about painting deliberately about an upcoming group of paintings I will describe.

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