What a Painting Reveals

This is a very interesting quote and does beg discussion.  But my experience is that it is true.  The artist may not agree with the assessment but I think it is a statement more correct than false!  You can read a lot about the individual who made something by examining it closely.  (I've decided to accept "mildly schizophrenic" as a personality trait since I seem to be all over the map in my work!)

Case in point:        Less than a year ago I had a horrible experience with my back.  Unaware I had chronic problems it all came to a head when I could not move or get up without excruciating pain.  I was ready to sign off.  Fortunately those around me had other ideas and without belaboring details I was able to have surgery, learn to walk and get up and resume life.  How did this affect my painting?

I decided to process this event via my painting and I wasn't much worried if it met a "painting standard" or not.  This was to be personal art therapy.  To be real I had to be the model for any photos I painted from so with the assistance of my husband we did a home photo shoot.  Even that was therapeutic.

I was able to sling the black colors of my "dark night of the soul" to my hearts content gradually healing towards gray tones.  I think I even had some ambilivant violet on the canvas before finishing with the more hopeful white.  Oh yeah, you may see a few drips of red anger as well.

Even with the (realistic) lumpy, bumpy rear end this felt good.  It was done.  No one needed to like it, I spilled my guts.

Little by little I felt myself coming out of the angst and fear that had become second nature.  So I decided to paint a more hopeful rendition of the back issue.  Much less black and a lot more neutral gray.  But the head is surrounded by yellow, a color of a new day dawning.  The pink, the blue and the violet are all soft as if they are creeping in little by little, just trying to bring a bit of color forth in a gentle, non-obtrusive way.  This is a painting of hope, of the posibility of happiness and recovery.  Whether it is perfectly correct as a figure drawing is not the the point here.  Progress is.

Have you ever studied the work by an artist and then had the opportunity to meet them?  Did you correctly gauge their personality traits from their work?  I think it is a fascinating revelation to find out what moves and motivates a particular artist in subject matter as well as style.

I have to agree with Pollock above that "painting is self-discovery."  Quality be damned if you are discovering something about yourself!!  And I liked discovering that ending on a bleak, black and gray note was just a temporary fixation...not a permanent rut.

Cindy Michaud Art
questions? contact me at:
art@cindymichaud.com
www.cindymichaud.com