Into The Light

(292) Into the Light
8 x 10, oil
My focus in this painting was to "chisel" out the shapes with a flat brush, which proved to be way tougher than it seems it should be, so I found myself scraping the paint, beginning over, and analyzing how artists make corrections and problem solve (lighter, darker, warmer, cooler?...). In art workshops that I have attended, it seems that inevitably there is always that one student who becomes easily frustrated and whines to the instructor "paint it for me." And while some instructors oblige as a way of demonstrating, some respond with a joke "If I paint it for you, I will have to put my name on it and charge you for it." But my all time favorite response to the whiners was Carolyn Anderson's reprimand to "MAKE IT RIGHT! If it doesn't work, it is up to you to keep trying until you figure out how to make it work." Her response may seem a little harsh, but sometimes finding the correct solutions in life demands diligent persistence, resilience, faith and hope. This week I'm counting on our country to show that same resolve as we begin anew, seek the right solutions, and make it right.
"Take the first step in faith. You don't have to see the whole staircase, just take the first step~
Peace is not merely a distant goal that we seek, but a means by which we arrive at that goal."
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.