Too much analysis!

Too much analysis! February, 2010

“If I create from the heart, nearly everything works; if from the head, almost nothing”

Marc Chagall (1889-1985)

Recently at a group painting session after I had announced what I was going to paint, I was challenged with the question “how are you going to paint it?” I would have liked to answer “with pigment, brushes and perhaps a palette knife, you idiot!”, but I didn’t and fell into the trap of banalities instead.

Why do some fellow painters have this compelling need to go on and on explaining themselves? There was a time when I would listen with awe to their endless analysis and theories the way I used to listen in philosophy class. And, of course I would dread it, when it came my turn to say something thinking I better drum up some intellectual jargon, and mind you, I have a vast repertoire of it. Well, that was then! I am no longer in awe.

Sorry folks, I try not to start painting with any preconceived notions, techniques or expectations. Somehow such questions simply do not arise for me anymore. I try to approach every new painting as if I were a novice. This initial attempt of no assumptions and humility fosters at best I believe a potential, the potential to open my creative channels. It is the openness and sense of novelty that does not confine me. It engages me to explore and express myself with less fear on a journey of adventure and discovery. Rather than think about what and how I am going to paint, I try to feel what I am going to paint and sense my way as I go on. Painting, or for that matter any artistic expression, is foremost an expansive, emotionally charged and metaphorical language that defies intellectual rationalization.

Yvette Stenzel