What is an artist?
I was walking down an abandoned railroad in Montana once, although the only thing that was left of the railroad were the rocks, as the railroad company had most assuredly taken and reused the track and ties somewhere else. The sun was shining as if it were shining for only me. A nice Montana spring breeze blew across my skin, making me feel like I was a small child again. The world so large and full of beauty. I was thinking to myself about my horses and how they would like to go to where I was walking when I noticed a log just off to the side. It wasn’t a particularly impressive log, little more than a firewood stump, but I felt compelled to stop and admire it. I knelt down to look at it, I was about 6 or 7 feet away from it. I was overcome with goosebumps as I looked at the way the sun shone down on it. It was early afternoon and the sun was behind me. Rays of sun bounced from the reddish rocks and illuminated the underside of the log just as the sun shone down beautifully on the top of it. It sparkled with life as I looked upon it. It was completely unique with it’s dark twisted bark and only a couple small gnarled branches were still attached to it. It must have been the way they came out of the log, in an eerily inviting sort of way, much like the dark open doorways of abandoned houses. There were hundreds of colors in that piece of wood, and my brain absorbed all of them. I soaked in everything I saw and felt in those moments and after ten minutes I got up and walked on, quietly reflecting about the beauty I had just seen.
I see beauty like that in most everything I come across, and I always try to stop to admire it. When I’m painting or drawing, I put what I feel about the subject into the piece, and that gives it life that the medium itself can’t accomplish on it’s own. I can’t help but see the most remarkable things in nature and I am compelled to get them out on canvas.
I see beauty like that in most everything I come across, and I always try to stop to admire it. When I’m painting or drawing, I put what I feel about the subject into the piece, and that gives it life that the medium itself can’t accomplish on it’s own. I can’t help but see the most remarkable things in nature and I am compelled to get them out on canvas.
