Painting with Spirit

One recent morning, I took my nature journal and art supplies out to our nearby park.  

The morning sun caught the spring foliage in an ancient maple tree, and I was struck by the beauty of backlit maple foliage against dark branches.  The new maple leaves were still golden green, and hadn't yet matured into the deeper sap green hues of summer. They vibrated with life to my artist's eye.

I am thrilled by high contrast scenes like this one.

That's the feeling I seek when painting or sketching.  I find the part of the larger scene that fascinates me, that draws me in & inspires me.  Sometimes it takes a little time walking around and looking, but once I find the inspiration, I sit down and start sketching.

I began with a Pentel India ink brush pen to sketch in the tree trunk and limbs.  After the ink was dry, I began laying in areas of color with a Sakura Koi watercolor set.

I ran out of time before I had finished my artwork, but luckily got a reference photo so I could finish at home.  Using the photo above, I added more details with Inktense colored pencils and Caran D'Ache Neocolor II watercolor crayons.

As I created, I thought about the painting philosophy that I have been reading in the book, Painting Water in Watercolor by Christian Wharton:

What we paint is life itself, ... it is ourselves we are painting. It is our spirit recognizing ourselves in the spirit of the object we are looking at.

Art is there to inspire by giving the essence of the subject, and it does this from the level of feeling.

Very few paint with the same degree of truth as Van Gogh. This quality of truth does not result from careful modelling, details, or brilliant alla prima technique. It is something that is more than the sum of the parts. And it is best to aim for that level of truth, without worrying too much about whether we can achieve it or not . It's just more rewarding and fun that way. Technique by itself is nothing without the feeling level.

 

The feeling of the painting or artwork is far more important to me than technical precision.  I am not a camera making an exact replica. I am an artist, a human being, expressing for other human beings how I see the world.  

I feel inspired by Christian Wharton's philosophy (and her technical instructions), and when I began working on this maple tree, I focused simply on the part of the scene that made me feel alive.

I think that's where the healing comes in with this type of art-making.  By tuning in to what really thrills me and makes me feel alive, I connect with my true self, while connecting with nature.  I relax into the bliss of creating, following what I see before me and trying to express it.

The artwork connects me to nature and to myself.