"Light" the ultimate source of the creative process

For any artist looking to free himself from a creative block, there is one source that many artists have looked at for hundreds of years and produced many famous works of art. The creative source was light. The desire to capture light has inspired almost every painter from the time that people began painting and inspired them to innovate.

Because light is not constant, there are unlimited, unique interpretations of light, from a candlelit still life or portrait in the daylight through an open window, to the stormy skies of a John Constable and William Turner or the evening glow captured by Charles Rollo Peters. Of course, for the most well-known depictions of changing light,...pick any Monet painting you like. The pioneering painters were all inspired by light.

Capturing the light on any subject is the key to most all works of art. When I think about creating new works and I get stuck, I typically go for a walk down to the shoreline. I have found that staring out at the water will quiet my mind and fine tune the creative ideas jumping around in the mind. Staring out over the landscape, I can immediately see how Constable was inspired by approaching storm clouds. The light makes everything beautiful. These memories of looking at landscape paintings and looking directly at the landscape led me to create my own interpretations of light; gave me purpose to create my own messages in art about how I perceived light.

I made an important decision a long time ago, "I would not discount any form of light that makes the subject strong." For a long time, painting light used to mean only one thing to me and that was strong and direct day light. It is simple to fall into this trap when creating new work because we spend most of our time in day light. A few years back, during the winter, we had a power-out. I had lit a few candles and noticed how everything was transforemd by the candlight. The light was simple and warm and had not over powered every surface in the room like traditional modern lighting. It has been a long time that candles have been the main source of light in modern art and I felt inspired to draw in my sketchbook. I managed to complete one drawing of a reclining figure behind a few lit candles on a table in the fore ground with a pot of orchids on it. It was the only time I had worked under candlelight to when drawing. Afterwards, I found the drawing appealing enough to do a small painting titled, "Power Out."

The idea for this painting, Nude with Tealights, started from a simple moment having a drink at a local bar that had several tealights in a row. As I enjoyed my drink, I just stared at the light flashing on the candle, the glass container, the shadow and the reflection. It was the beginning of a new work, ...inspiration at last.

Light is still the main source of my creative inspiration when I am confronted with a block. My exploration of light frees me of these creative blocks; moonlight at midnight, dusk on a cold or hot day, midday light, late evening light, candlelight, lighting by a house lamp, and early morning.

I have used light during different times of the day to express quiet images of landscape or portraiture. As with all artists that have come before me, capturing light in my art is still powerful and thought provoking.

Delivering Artwork to a Gallery

This week I am delivering "White" to the Autobody Fine Art Gallery.

Inspiration for artists comes from all places, and the painting "White" is no exclusion. I had started this painting while I was going through a period of down time, or uninspired images. I had not drawn in my sketchbook for months. I forced myself to just keep painting and printmaking. For subject matter, I choose the iconographic skyline of San Francisco. So,....I just started painting, like any old easel painter would, with no direction, no message, or intent. I simply painted the SF skyline as everyone sees it on every sunny day. The painting sat half finished in my studio for months because I was unable to work on something so unattractive. To use the metaphor, "a lightbulb went off in my head," was kind of an understatement. I travel throughout the bay area and remembered the special moments when fog changes the natural landscape into a beautiful and expressively quiet place. These moments when the landscape changes from its regular, sunny, eye catching view was what stuck with me the most and gave me inspiration. It was only natural that I should choose to paint a landscape in various shades of white and grey. It was like a mathmetician working out a solution to a hard equation. The result was a long process of mixing various shades of white tinted by blues, greens, reds, yellows,..etc. to differentiate the sky, land, and water. Through trial and error, and multiple layers of paint, I managed to complete the picture. The alternating shades of white replicate the dead quiet beauty and calm feeling of cold and fog. This simple process of getting back to what I view as beautiful, even amongst the most mundane of subject matter, transformed this small piece from totally uninspired to actively working on an idea.