Remembering
Remembering . . . a vexing activity at times. Unfortunately, the older I get, the more vexing it becomes. Alain de Botton and John Armstrong in their book, Art as Therapy, name remembering as one of the seven functions of art. It helps us “hold on to things we love when they are gone” and point out what in particular we want to remember. Not form as much as personality and essence. This is the work of the artist.
The great dilemma is how to best communicate these qualities. What to include, what to lose? What to exaggerate in order to pull out that vital quality? There always comes a moment, the most supremely delightful moment, when painting someone I know well, where I sigh in relief, “Ah, there they are.” Somehow, slipping around the canvas in a pile of pigment, I stumble upon their essence.
The great dilemma is how to best communicate these qualities. What to include, what to lose? What to exaggerate in order to pull out that vital quality? There always comes a moment, the most supremely delightful moment, when painting someone I know well, where I sigh in relief, “Ah, there they are.” Somehow, slipping around the canvas in a pile of pigment, I stumble upon their essence.
