Letting go of things
I’ve been feasting on blooms this past 3 weeks - gorging, really, and only with my eyes. Our winters are long in Calgary so we tend to ecstasy when the snow finally melts and things start to bloom. Dandelions are fantastic! Apple blossoms? Don’t get me started; I’ll talk passionately for far too long. And, of course, I want to paint them all.
Every year I wrestle with how to do that. There are so many blossoms on each branch. Do I zoom out and paint a tree in full bloom from top to bottom? Do I zoom in and paint a branch? How much do I define individual blossoms? Given that I don’t experience the trees as thousands of individual flowers, and I’d rather get close to them than stand back and see them in their entirety, I make very little headway at the easel.
This year, though, I decided that I’d just paint the flowering trees as I experience them (yes: obvious). I stick my face right into the midst of them until they fill my vision and their fragrance surrounds me. From that vantage point, branches are dark, linear things, blossoms are colourful masses full of points or rounded edges and contrasting little centres, and leaves are flickering variations of greens, olives, and red. It’s overwhelming and wonderful in there.
In translating the experience into paint, I’ve tried to minimize information and maximize sensation. I’m working at letting go of nameable things and painting shapes of colour instead. I have many more to do before I decide if this is a plausible approach or a dead end, but I’m having a lot of fun and I feel like I’m painting the trees honestly. I’m hoping the viewer gets a sense of how I see the most magical moments of Spring.
Happy painting!