The Process Is Sometimes Bigger than the Painting!

Art of Painting Blog
Musings and More from Don Sahli…

Midnight Roses 24 x 30

It is hard to believe that more than a month has gone by since the last blog. I hope all have seized an opportunity to paint. I know I have and I also taught a couple of workshops. Much was learned and many paintings painted.

My friend, Tricia Bass (you may remember her from the August newsletter) sent me a wonderful note about a painting “experience” she had while painting in the Second Annual Wyoming Plein Air 2009 event… It is an excellent commentary on the joy and challenge of plein air painting. I asked and she gave me permission to share here!

Crazy Moon 9 x 12

"…I took a 3rd Place at the Wyoming Plein Air…sometimes God sends you affirmations just when you need them the most! It was a painting called “Crazy Moon” and in this case the process was way, way bigger than the painting. I was doing a night painting, catching the rising, full moon, being dive bombed by mosquitoes; 2 Bull Moose came out the wood and were grazing on the water’s edge. It was so quiet that you could hear slurp, slurp, slurp of their feet as they walked in the mud. It was just magical, I couldn’t see s…, but maybe being in the dark can help you see a better painting. Wish you could have been there, Don! Oh, and I didn’t overwork the painting because one big guy started snorting at us! Time to go. Nature Rocks!” TB

As I read Tricia’s note, it just made me want to go paint. So I did; but in my studio…roses in the window against the black of night – capturing the night sky through the window. No moose or mosquitoes; but night noises from the neighborhood. Like Tricia, I found that magical moment in painting when you loose yourself in the process. And like the title says – the process – bigger than the painting – elevates you and the painting being created. So as the journey continues, seek to loose yourself in the process and find out what happens!

DS