Friday 22 February 2013

Painting and Time



How do you view a painting?  How do you live your life?
Do you actually value the quality of the now or do you value
the quantity more?
Do you value life by how much you have done, 
or the quality time you spend on each thing you do?
I believe it is time to slow life down.  Why is the human race impressed with speed?  Everything should be done so fast.  Why be impressed by how fast someone paints?  Why is that considered good?  The old masters spent a long time on each painting. It wasn't about being the fastest but about being the best.

I don't paint slow but I spend a lot of time on each painting.  

When I paint,  for me it is like reading a really good book.  I do not paint or read just to have it done as fast as possible.  I enjoy every step.  
Even in reading they now teach you how to read faster by just reading the ending of each word.  Isn't that an insult to the writer?  Why not enjoy and suck the marrow out of each word?  I sometimes read parts in slow-motion because I like a certain sentence or paragraph so much.  Would 
I be a happier person if I had read five books instead of one during the same sequence time? 

Or what about, how to see the Louvre Museum in 60 min.  If you only have an hour to visit a museum, choose one or two paintings to really get to know, to give your whole attention.  Why does quantity and speed seem to be more important than quality?  

Paintings need to be seen, really seen!  To see a painting is to feel the painting, to enjoy it as you would enjoy a good vintage wine.  For a wine connoisseur it is not about how much wine you drink or how fast you drink it.  Enjoy a painting like it is a fine wine, 
enjoy life the same way.

Slow down, don't run through life, you might miss it.  Stand in front of a great painting and soak in every piece of paint every single now that the painter has put into the painting.  The painter is giving you so much more than an image, she or he is giving you a piece of their soul, 
their energy is immersed in the paint.

Enjoy every single impression you take in, aroma, vision, sound,  feeling, take it all in!  Taste the painting with your whole being. 
Do everything as if it is the first and last thing you will ever do.

Moments happens only once!