As an artist, I look for unity in chaos. It may come as colour, form, light, or subject, and so much more. If I cannot find it, I can create it; purposely choosing something to make the art flow to match my vision. As artists, we learn this with formal art training or through the school of hard knocks. We build on these insights throughout our careers, finely tuning our voice over time.
I’ve often wondered why artists choose what they choose. Why does an artist decide to paint flowers, portraits or landscapes? What is it about that subject matter that attracts the artist? Is there something beyond form, colour, subject, and light? Is there an energy that vibrates, displaying a field of information that grabs the artists attention.
Early in my career, I wrestled with the question of what to paint. People would give me suggestions, but I found they rarely worked for me. Technically I could pull it off, but something was missing.
It wasn’t until I learned to quiet my mind and just sit with the energy around me, that the answer started to reveal itself to me visually and emotionally. I started to realize that all matter vibrates at a different frequency. If it didn’t, everything would look the same. I believe that when one vibration matches another, an attraction is formed. When I sit quietly, and the energy matches mine, it will reveal itself to me. Then I can capture it, and put it on canvas or paper.
Early in my career, I wrestled with the question of what to paint. People would give me suggestions, but I found they rarely worked for me. Technically I could pull it off, but something was missing.
It wasn’t until I learned to quiet my mind and just sit with the energy around me, that the answer started to reveal itself to me visually and emotionally. I started to realize that all matter vibrates at a different frequency. If it didn’t, everything would look the same. I believe that when one vibration matches another, an attraction is formed. When I sit quietly, and the energy matches mine, it will reveal itself to me. Then I can capture it, and put it on canvas or paper.
"Green" - 16"x20" - 40.64x50.8 cm - Acrylic on Canvas According to the laws of physics, energy never goes away, but changes form.
Quantum physics teaches us that thoughts are energy.
Vibratory waves emitted by thoughts affect the Quantum world.
The act of observation changes what is being observed, and how it reveals itself.
Quantum physics teaches us that thoughts are energy.
Vibratory waves emitted by thoughts affect the Quantum world.
The act of observation changes what is being observed, and how it reveals itself.
An atom is a field of energy pulsating outward. We know that everything is energy and, it’s all connected. The Chandra telescope sees the energy of the stars connected as a mesh of pulsating energy. Yet the Hubble telescope sees these same stars as individual bodies. So which is correct? The answer is both. It’s all in the lens we look through. Learning to quiet the mind and let the subject reveal itself to you, changes your internal lens. Things you hadn’t noticed before now jump out at you as you tune your vibrational energy into that frequency.
I learned to let it speak to me, showing me something I had never seen before with the old lens.
I mastered sitting with it, waiting for it to show me what I couldn’t see before. I just sit and wait. Try it next time you are out in the forest, at a train station or in a busy mall. Quiet your mind, don’t think about anything, just watch and wait to see what changes. It’s quite amazing.
I’ve never considered myself a landscape painter. I did studies of elements in a landscape and even finished drawings and watercolour paintings. In my mind, they were just studies to be used as background music or simply something to occupy me while I figured out what I wanted to paint next.
Several years ago, I moved south to the GTA. Toronto to be specific. I go to parks a lot of the time, but depending on the time of day, they could be filled with crowds of people, loud music, geese honking and well, distractions. Much preferred over the biting insects of Northwestern Ontario and brutal temperature extremes of my former home, but still distractions all the same.
Then I found High Park in the west end of the city. At first, it was just to get away, a respite from the noise and disturbances of the city. But eventually, I found quiet spots that seemed to invite me in. Every time I go it’s like having a conversation with an old friend. We visit, I take photos, I sketch, I listen, I feel. That’s when I started looking at landscapes like I never had before. Now I could see them not as a part of something else, but as a unique voice.
The painting shown here is an area of High Park known as Grenadier Pond. Green has been an elusive colour for me. A secondary colour that for some reason I could never fully appreciate. Was it because it was secondary and not prime? I don’t know. As I was working on this piece, trying to sort out the subtleties, I ran across a piece performed by Ken Nordin, which gave me a new perspective of green, seeing it in a new light.
I learned to let it speak to me, showing me something I had never seen before with the old lens.
I mastered sitting with it, waiting for it to show me what I couldn’t see before. I just sit and wait. Try it next time you are out in the forest, at a train station or in a busy mall. Quiet your mind, don’t think about anything, just watch and wait to see what changes. It’s quite amazing.
I’ve never considered myself a landscape painter. I did studies of elements in a landscape and even finished drawings and watercolour paintings. In my mind, they were just studies to be used as background music or simply something to occupy me while I figured out what I wanted to paint next.
Several years ago, I moved south to the GTA. Toronto to be specific. I go to parks a lot of the time, but depending on the time of day, they could be filled with crowds of people, loud music, geese honking and well, distractions. Much preferred over the biting insects of Northwestern Ontario and brutal temperature extremes of my former home, but still distractions all the same.
Then I found High Park in the west end of the city. At first, it was just to get away, a respite from the noise and disturbances of the city. But eventually, I found quiet spots that seemed to invite me in. Every time I go it’s like having a conversation with an old friend. We visit, I take photos, I sketch, I listen, I feel. That’s when I started looking at landscapes like I never had before. Now I could see them not as a part of something else, but as a unique voice.
The painting shown here is an area of High Park known as Grenadier Pond. Green has been an elusive colour for me. A secondary colour that for some reason I could never fully appreciate. Was it because it was secondary and not prime? I don’t know. As I was working on this piece, trying to sort out the subtleties, I ran across a piece performed by Ken Nordin, which gave me a new perspective of green, seeing it in a new light.
Green
As an intellectual vibration,
Smack dab in the middle of spectrum,
Green can be a problem,
That's because there's so many different greens, inside of Green and each one has a different IQ,
There's the green that should never have happened:
The "stupid green."
The green that is "green with envy."
Then there's the "so-so green, " the "who-cares-anyway?" green
But somewhere in green,
Is a green here and there that has something to say:
A truly intelligent green,
A green with some integrity,
That's the kind of green for you and me
There's a green to be seen with: vivid, vibrant, living alive!
We should spend the better part of our time,
Yours and mine,
With a green like this
Maybe some of it would rub off
Songwriters: Gilbert / Connelly / Menendez
Green lyrics © Edward B Marks Music Company
As an intellectual vibration,
Smack dab in the middle of spectrum,
Green can be a problem,
That's because there's so many different greens, inside of Green and each one has a different IQ,
There's the green that should never have happened:
The "stupid green."
The green that is "green with envy."
Then there's the "so-so green, " the "who-cares-anyway?" green
But somewhere in green,
Is a green here and there that has something to say:
A truly intelligent green,
A green with some integrity,
That's the kind of green for you and me
There's a green to be seen with: vivid, vibrant, living alive!
We should spend the better part of our time,
Yours and mine,
With a green like this
Maybe some of it would rub off
Songwriters: Gilbert / Connelly / Menendez
Green lyrics © Edward B Marks Music Company
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