The More You Paint, The More You See

It all started with blueberries. After painting gooseberries, the thought of painting blueberries was exciting and motivating. To be honest, it was supposed to be a pleasant and relatively easy endeavor. It wasn’t and still isn’t.

Blueberries grow on blueberry bushes, not trees. My blueberries looked like they were fruits growing from a branch of a large tree even though there were no actual tree trunks in my paintings. It was the flow of the painting that did not allow for the feeling of a branch growing as part of a bush. I was stuck so I decided to work on my basic brush strokes. I referred back to my sumi-e instruction books and was reminded that the four gentlemen (bamboo, orchid, plum and chrysanthemum) provides all the tools one needs to paint other subjects. I practiced the bamboo brush strokes including the intricate branches and then pulled out some of my old practice paintings. I had kept these out of the many practice pieces believing they were somewhat decently done. The bad news was that they were rigid and lifeless; the good news was that I now see this. The painting example in my sumi-e instruction books look different from what I had seen before. The bamboos, orchids, plum trees and the chrysanthemum flowers were alive. They grow out of the ground; alive and breathing. Some of the decay of the plum tree is a sign of life that had lingered for some time. Just as the paintings of LeRoy Neiman play jazz music, sumi-e paintings have their own distinct music or rhythms. I am pretty sure one must lose himself/herself in the painting for such music to play.

I know these thoughts are nothing new for the accomplished artists, but for me, the progress in “seeing” is a cause for celebration!

Now that I see more, can I paint better? Not necessarily, but I feel I have a higher goal to reach which is uplifting and exciting. It’s a goal I will never reach so, again, the joy rests in the process.

And yes, I am still working on my blueberries.