A painter said this. I can not remember who it was, but this idea is completely integrated into my work. Its the nuance in a painting that draws me into its world, making for a richer, more profound visit. It helps stir my curiosity and sense of wonder. When I paint, I am looking for nuance, for subtlety that will stretch my awareness. I am wanting to create not a tweet, but a haiku.
Lately, between letter writing and phone calls, I have turned to nuanced work. It is easy to knock out a piece (especially in oil) that follows closely on what I have painted before. It would most likely sell, but it does not feed the soul. It is feeding the soul that I need now. To get my head back into this, I return to chalk. More than any other medium it needs a nuanced hand to make it sing. Sure the marks can be smudged and blended, but this negates their special voice. Chalk is the only dry color medium. This means that if one is deeply sensitive to its application, many layers can create incredible depth into the picture plane. For example, purple takes the eye deep. There is red in purple which is the complement of green and will grey it. So in any other medium one can not put purple under a green that needs to be vibrant. However, when chalk is tenderly and deliberately applied, the eye sees between the particles of later layers to earlier layers. The red, then, does not mix with the green, thus keeping the green vibrant.
It is not about speed, but about art. The art of knowing so well what one is doing, that decisive, careful, deliberate strokes build nuance. Dragging a brush, or a stick of chalk, across all colors, slurping them together, makes a slushy, muddy slurry.
As I realized this epiphany, another percolated up in my work. If I did not have clarity of my vision, strokes could not be deliberate. I had to keep my vision at the forefront of my awareness as I painted.
As I watch human activity, its restlessness for change to either go back to some perceived life that was or to move forward to a new paradigm, anxious to get it done, thus taking a large brush wiggling it across all the stunning colors we have at our finger tips, because we want results now, I want more nuance in my work, more than ever. I intend to practice it so it is a reflex in my life.
There is a beautiful word in Japanese -
Ki, the first character is spirit, life force, the second, kubari, means to distribute or share. Together the feeling engendered is ‘Paying close attention to others, the art of being mindful of one’s surroundings’. There is no one word in English, so I ask you to hold these thoughts in your mind and see where they take you for this is what nuance can help us with.
What will you create today?
?
I love this. There is so much to ponder here, about art and about makng art. Thank you!
Honored to read your words👑