The Painting is Working and Why People Say Swear Like a Sailor

I live to paint but it is a serious discipline. Over the years I have discovered so many personal directions that my abilities are stretched every time I paint. As most painters will tell you, what worked for one painting doesn't necessarily work for another painting. I have only discovered one absolute direction for all paintings and that is to not let much time go between each session. It is like playing a musical instrument. I have to be at it everyday. If I miss a day then I seem to lose my place in a painting. Years ago I discussed this with Dorothy Gillespie when she graciously taught a course at Radford University. She certainly agreed. My current painting is working out but I have to get in there and keep going.

Last night I was thinking about the saying "Swear like a Sailor". In my experience, that has been true but I wonder why we have that saying. My husband said if you had to spend all that time on a boat with no place else to go what do you think you would say? I mean no dis-respect to sailors. My father was a medical officer in the Navy during WWII and I miss him and his sometimes colorful language very much.

Classes and the Sale of Wildflowers Near Fancy Gap

I am so pleased to have more freedom this semester as I only have two classes. It is great to have more time to work at what I live to do. I get depressed if I can't keep up my painting schedule. The process is much more complicated than the average person realizes. It isn't just a matter of picking up a brush when inspiration strikes. Art is an intense discipline and I can't go more than one day with out losing something that pertains to the particular technique I am using for each work. I have been building on a style that is unique to me even though people can see similarities to various established styles. I lose something and gain something with each painting. I have learned over the years how to let them live and not work them to death.

Control and accident. I have said this before but I think one has to be a serious painter to truly understand this difficult balancing act. As Dorothy Gillespie once said to me in so many words, "Painters always have this feeling that they are falling off a cliff when working." It is a job that is only partly thought out. The rest is a leap of faith.

As always I am so pleased that I recently sold one of my favorite paintings. "Wildflowers Near Fancy Gap" is one of my favorite paintings and I know the patron greatly appreciates it.

Currently I have paintings on ebay and always on ebay classified for Blacksburg, VA
Prints on clothing, paper products, and kitchen wares can be purchased at www.zazzle.com/newriverartist