This complete moment

-
Today's morning meditation and, in particular, a couple of lines, struck me:

Just as you breathe, and let the breath go, then the next one comes, in, out, let it go, let life's events come and go the same way. Don't hold on, just like you don't hold on to the breath.

I don't think about the breaths that have passed, nor do I think about the breaths that will come in an hour. Why, then, do I not paint the same way?
I find I focus a lot on the future - specifically getting into big shows - and I paint with that in mind. I also paint bigger with that in mind, and I don't think I am ready to be that big just yet. When I am not thinking of all that, I paint well, instinctively. When all that takes over, my instinct goes for a toss and I paint under various kinds of pressure.

If I could just focus on today, this moment, and focus on what there is to learn, what I am lacking in - then I could master that one task at a time, and trickle it to my paintings. When multiple elements have been mastered, or substantially improved upon, will I not be painting better automatically? When I think about it, really get down to it, there are many art basics that are not yet so basic to me. I still struggle with
value patterns....dark linkages....light linkages.....eye passage....color.....vignette vs. painting.....composition....
With this much to do, learn, read about, why do I focus on the future and the masterpiece that I will do one day? Why not simply master the present? Just like the breath, the present moment is complete in itself - the knowledge and ability I have today, in this moment, is complete. It is my best, in this moment.

Om Poornamadah Poornamidam Poornat Poornamudachyate,
Poornasya Poornamaadaya Poornamevavashishyate,
Om Shanti Shanti Shantihi

That is wholeness. This is wholeness. From that wholeness this wholeness arises. 
When this wholeness is taken away from that wholeness, wholeness alone remains.

Om Peace, Peace, Peace

This is a small watercolor I did of Chef Chu's, in Los Altos. I am always struck by the red awning and the other splashes of red. I need to do another one, with the daily man patiently standing outside the door, next to a table of to-go orders, ready for pick-up. In this time of Covid19, that is the best they can do too - in this moment.


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Connected shadows

-
Image
I have often passed by the Campbell Community Center/Heritage Theater and been struck by the beautiful Spanish Colonial Revival architecture with intricate ornamentation. Finally, I had the opportunity to paint it today with the SCVWS Thursday plein air group. I think I should have used a ruler for this as some of my verticals aren't parallel to the edge of the paper! I do like the purple/blue shadows and how the colored shadows blend into one another around all the bright white areas. As always, for me, greens are troublesome - they often look overworked in my paintings. But, I am pleased with this overall.                       “One Ticket, Please”
Read more

Faith vs. belief, and inspiration

-
Image
In yesterday's Gita session, we discussed the difference between belief and faith. I found myself saying that a belief was hard-edged and inflexible, and faith all-encompassing and flexible and always positive - akin to having a big-picture trust in the cosmos. When I heard myself say "hard-edged," it made me realize how many terms and ideas are so interchangeable between the world of watercolor (art) and spirituality (life). When edges are hard, the eye stops at each edge before it goes to the next "item." It's like stop-and-go traffic. You are making progress but it is not smooth, not a flow. When edges are soft, your eyes travel easily, from one object to the next because the divisions between the objects are blurred, and the values do the talking. It is like life, like consciousness. We are all one - not so hard-edged and separate - yet we don't know it, and bump up against one another because of our hard edges, fixed ideas and notions, prejudices an
Read more

Design- vs. content-driven

-
Image
I've found that strong design-driven art is more attractive to me than content-driven paintings. Of course, the content or subject is there (unless it is truly non-representational work), but it is realized and recognized a split second after one has responded to the design. For this reason, subjects that lend themselves to being more easily abstracted - interiors, close-ups of anything, still life cropped just so - are more appealing than standard impressionistic distant landscapes where the shapes themselves tell you sky-earth-mountains-lake. A landscape can also be abstracted but I feel there is more effort in hiding or veiling landscape features for the slow reveal to happen. I've been working on this still life, and just starting with a notan helped me understand and crop shapes right away. Pushing some of the lighter shapes to the white of the paper helps with abstraction. Like a chess board where each shape is bordered by a contrasting value shape, or the way we typicall
Read more