Monday, May 9, 2016

the refusal to be habit-ridden





“To be creative,....may mean nothing more than the refusal to be habit-ridden.”
Wolf Kahn
Think about it. To me, and I see WK agreed, to be a painter means that you are an explorer. Never satisfied with what you can do, you are forever searching. That said, you if you are genuinely searching you can't have a technique you rely on to create a certain effect. Even if you paint the same thing every day, the concept is different. 
I learned this long ago. When I was studying for my MFA I spent two full years painting a pot of yellow mums. Yes, I did have to keep buying new yellow mums when the fresh pot withered away completely, but it was always the same size yellow mums.  I can tell you I learned more in those two years painting those mums. I learned about painting and endless possibilities. I continue that work now as I paint the same block of trees, or the same soccer field near my house. Sometimes I feel like Magellan as he rounded Cape Horn and discovered the other side. 
What happens if I do this? 
I wonder......?

3 comments:

Caroline Simmill said...

Hello Loriann I would love to see those yellow mums paintings! When I saw Monet's Hay stacks in London many years ago I was fascinated by the differences and I could see that Monet must have enjoyed painting them. The thickness of the paint on the canvas was incredible.

loriann signori said...

It's amazing what one can see when it is your universe.

Sue Marrazzo Fine Art said...

A wow!