I watched a Youtube video featuring the wonderful, iconic artist Ken Done. One thing he said really struck a chord with me. In reference to one of his famous beach scenes, he mused, “I’m trying to paint the feeling of what it is like to be at the beach” . This idea of painting the ‘feeling’ of something is so captivating to me. It invites me in to a way of painting that is playful, immediate and unassuming. It’s about fully appreciating a moment in time, allowing for emotions and nostalgia to surface. Abstraction vs realism becomes irrelevant, because it’s all just about subjective experience.
It’s freeing and exciting to lean into the endless possibilities of the imagination, and to trust that our own unique perspectives are both valid and steeped in meaning.
This led me to ponder how my artwork has really documented my life thus far. Even when it is unintentional, art holds up a kind of mirror, often revealing things that go beyond the surface level of the everyday. Pictures show a deeper, more mysterious interior world.. It’s like the process of creating in and of itself has it’s own inherent wisdom.
Art exposes our shadows, reveals hopes, fears and often magnifies the things we love. Many times, I have looked back on older artworks and noticed so many archetypal and symbolic elements to them. They give me a very real sense of where I was at during that particular time. For me, pictures are even more revealing than the written form.
Contemplative teacher James Finley talks a lot about the frustration we can feel that we are ‘skating over the surface of our own lives’. We long for depth, meaning and purpose that transcends beyond ourselves. In the act of creating, we make manifest who we are as image-bearers of God. Perhaps this is why allowing ourselves to slow down and paint or create from our feelings is such a beautiful way to honour the mysterious and wonder-filled act we all innately participate in- the act of making things, and delighting in the process of it.
Alyssa's Art Garden 