finding magenta

10% Complete, “Melodrama”, 16X20, Oil on Canvas

IN painting landscapes, I was taught that before you go into the details of a piece, you must first define the “darkest darks and lightest lights”. Now, I often try to draw a parallel between lessons derived through the painting process and those from life experiences, but this particular one has been especially difficult for me to grasp. The lesson here is clearly about gaining perspective. The painter can better gauge the tone of each tint and shade when he or she has properly defined the extremes appropriate for the painting.

As sensible as this might be to practice in life, I must confess that I often find my disposition easily influenced by the slightest incremental change in my fortune. Only in retrospect do I realize that what I once thought was the “greatest injustice” to be merely a small “bump on the road” and “the biggest break in my life” to be simply the flat pavement that extends beyond the bump. As simple as this all sounds and as many times as my wise friends have advised me of the same during these “life-defining” situations, it is still difficult to acquire the perspective of a landscape painter.

Maybe it comes with age.

60% Complete, 16x20, Oil on Canvas 

Just completed my last landscape class. Missed half of the classes offered but I feel like things are finally coming together in my head. It is such a scary feeling as everything seems so ephemeral these days.

Maybe it is the summer fever.