Why I Paint Part 3
I now call myself an abstract expressionist painter.
I mentioned to my daughter, Amanda, that I was going to take up painting seriously and do it full-time for the first time in my life.
She said, “ What are you going to paint?”
I said, “Abstract landscapes.”
She responded with why don’t you paint what you love?”
My response was, like, what?
She said, “Like sailboats and horses.” Hmmm, oh wow.
That opened the door! I was again bothered by “I guess you could call it art.” However, hearing my daughter say, “Paint what I love,” changed my perspective. Golly, I can paint.
So, the journey began. One of my first horse paintings was a hit not only with the horse's owner but also with many others as my followers started to grow. One of my first sailboat paintings appeared on the cover of a nautical magazine in Seattle, and I was off on my journey.
I started painting not only for myself but also for those who say, “I can’t even draw a straight line.” Well, I can’t either, but it is far more than straight lines. It is all about emotion. If you want it exactly right, take a photo however, if the settings on your camera aren’t correct, it too will be an expression or abstracted.
Anyway, I paint emotion with color and exaggerated lines and shapes. When my clients see their paintings for the first time, they break into tears because they see their memory. I paint for that emotion to show the love and strength of the love. By “slapping paint,” I generate my feelings and love for the subject. “It doesn’t have to be exactly right to be right.” I have always loved drawing cartoons of people, and this has helped me through the years to see the best in people and place it on the canvas.
I do not capture the image but allow it to be free and resemble the moment. This is so true when I’m painting horses. I let their spirit flow through and try to show it in every subject. So, I paint love, even in my total abstracts. I often will not paint a subject, but sometimes the painting just tells a story.
It requires a lot of listening and then just allowing things to happen.
