Painting

Gro - I truly believe this and have lived this truth. The Light is everything and is always the right direction to follow.

 

So beautiful what you said slick
Light can be found even in the darker times

 

Do you see any beauty in this painting?

I would really like your input about what you think - feel about this painting before I write about it's meaning and significance.

I added the far away picture for 2 reasons. 1 - to show that this painting does look different from a distance. 2 - You can see where i paint. Some have request more pictures of my works so this one shows several at once. LOL

Your feed back is very valuable to me so Thank You for sharing your reactions to my work. Also, some of you do not like posting in the forum so please feel free to IGM your thoughts & reactions. Thank You!

 

I love the background on this painting, not so sure about the pinky main bit. Your patience in doing this is wonderful with so many exact brush strokes you must have a very stead hand.

 

I love the colors! And in the background and in the main and all together.
I think it is a heart and it is an amazing painting
Do you use a brush to do it or also a sponge or something like that?

 

The background color mix is my favorite part of this one. Love the "background" of your other paintings in the second photo as well.

 

Thanks for your comments and impressions it really helps!!!

Tomorrow - maybe tonight I will write to tell you what this painting is all about.

Now, that I have finished painting this painting. I have to concentrate on the book so much to do!!!! I will devote the day to writing - hopefully - I will not allow myself to get distracted.

 

Love your painting! Very emotive, and reading about your struggle with it, makes what I feel when I look at it, even more beautiful. I too paint, though I do not consider myself very good and am often startled when I get done with a painting and look at it and think, What was happening in my mind - there is always lots of confusion and unhappiness that starts a painting for me. I do not think I could do what you have done, and do what someone asks - I think that you are very strong and solid to have been able to do so, and to have such a nice result!

 

Ariel - I forgot to answer your question. All my work is done with a brush to make the tiny slash marks. The one exception was the dark beach landscape, I used a black wash (black paint with a lot of water to thin down the paint) over the sky to darken it and to unify the sky. Even then I used a brush. I have never used a sponge.

 

Sorry for the late post about painting sglick. Actually I was the first to saw it but wasn't sure what to write as I'm very weak to read a painting or my decision power is very low because there were so many things in my mind at that time and I didn't know what is nearest to the painting.

The painting is amazing.I saw a heart with two different colors. Didn't know what it mean? The other painting on the wall is a masterpiece.
Like Arielh,I was also thinking that you might have used something else for those fine dots but you said you done it brush.It might have took a lot of your time.Those amazing paintings are the fruit of your patience.

 

Hopy - When looking at a painting - nothing is either right or wrong. It is all about how you feel.

Art historians and other such academic people try to find answers about the commonalities of what makes a great painting. This is knowledge has its worth, but really it doesn't matter one bit. Each person's experience with a painting is there own.

It is like you and your music. 10 people can hear the same song, but only you get the urge to dance and through the music and dance you go to a different level of being.

Some so-called Masterpieces are considered Masterpieces according to experts only because a particular painting has that ability to take many people to that different state of being.

I once was invited to a private showing of only about 50 people at the Phoenix Art Museum. This was a cocktail party for people with money and the Museum holds these kinds of event to entice rich people to donate money. I was lucky enough to go with some friends.

This cocktail party was for the guest to have a private viewing of a gallery of about 10 huge Claude Monet's. They were all water lily paintings. He is most famous for these water lily paintings.

After a polite amount of time, all the guests started congregating around the buffet table to mingle and talked about their experience or whatever. I did not join in. I stayed of the floor for a good 30 -60 minutes with these paintings by myself. I was in HEAVEN!

This was the best high that I had ever experiences. I am sure this high was similar to when a dancer is in total harmony with the music or a sports player is in the zone. I will never forget that feel. This kind of experience has nothing to do with knowing how to describe a painting. It is just about enjoying the moment.

This is what I want people to experience when they view my work. I accept that will not always happen. I am still happy when people take a moment to connect with it and then go on with their lives. I am trilled when people are able to share with me what their experience was like in that moment of connection with one of my paintings.

With all this being said. I will explain my experience with painting this painting. First off, I will give you it's name: Creating a Magnanimous Heart with Bipolar Depression.

A little background.

I have shared with many of you for years now about my struggles with depression. This is a force that I have to fight against everyday of my life. I fight so I can be a positive person. It is a constant struggle for me to accomplish anything especially a painting.

Since 2015, I started painting again. I have completed about 30 - 40 paintings of various sizes. This is the most productive that I have ever been in my life.

I have only been this productive, because of my renewed connection with my spiritual faith with has strengthened my connection with God. I am very clear that all my paintings are painted to Glorify God.

I have never painted my depression before this painting.

I painted this heart, because on 7-3 I took a 6 1/2 hour evaluation of my psychological and intellectual abilities. The doctor decided that I am Bipolar. This is not the 1st time that a doctor has thought this. None of the Bipolar meds have ever helped for that matter none of any of the meds help.

He explained that there is a subcategory form of Bipolar that seems to fit me.

This assessment was during the time period that I was forcing myself to paint the dark Beach scene. I just had the realization 3 days before the assessment/ diagnosis that to me black represents my depression and remembering my promise to myself in my 20's not to paint my depression.

After receiving the Bipolar diagnosis, another layer of denial was uncovered. It began to make sense why my life is the way it is. Out of this self discovery, I painted this painting.

I think the background accurately depicts the chaos that is my life and my mind. There are several layers of color. Each layer is trying to make a pattern, but then it swirls off in another direction without really completing anything. The colors like my life is ruled by my impulses.

I control my impulses for awhile by putting all my energy into focusing on 1 or 2 things for awhile, but then when the focus is broken. It is hard to reestablish the focus - sometimes, I am never able to reestablish the connection so parts of my life get lost or unfinished.

My connection with God is the only thing that helps me to move forward with my focusing to accomplish tasks.

The top layer of the background is black which represents how my focus keeps getting interrupted by depression. This depiction does not accurately depict how dark and intense the depression gets. Maybe in a future painting, I'll be able to show that; although, I think that painting would just be solid black.

The heart in the middle is the accomplishment of all the effort that I make. My goal is to be a positive, magnanimous, God-centered person. If I were to reach this goal, the heart would be a beautiful pink (loving) heart.

In this painting, the heart is there. There is a beautiful pattern to the heart. It only has 1 layer to it since it has not developed depth. It is misshapen, because I am still heavily influenced by the destructive, self loathing influences of my depression.


Sorry for being this long winded.

If you actually read this, thank you!

I have 1 request. Can you please tell me either here or in an IGM? Does understanding the artists motivations for painting a painting help you to have a better moment with connecting to the painting?

Thank you!!!

 

I love all your paintings sglick. To varying degrees, all humans can relate to the symptoms of 'depression' (or human nature).
Life is not perfect even though God is. I see a beautiful representation of the true nature of my human heart.
Thank you!

 

Your paintings are beautiful sglick.

I saw this one as a heart, divided equally in two depicting passion (red) and peace (blue) and self love and love for others. A shared heart, not a selfish heart. I saw the background as a representation of the many fragments of life - some dark but mostly light.

I appreciate art and acknowledge that there is, in most cases, a motivation behind the piece - which usually is unknown to the viewer. However, when I look at art, it generates a feeling within and it may represent something from my emotions or life. I think this is where the beauty of art is, it has the power to allow an artist to express their emotions or life in a visual medium, and at the same time, allows the viewer to also see it as an expression of their emotions and life: two completely different stories represented in one picture. I think the connection ties in, sort of, with a picture paints a thousand words. I hope this makes sense, the thoughts in the head are sometimes difficult to put into words.

Use your painting to colour your life - one brush stroke at a time.

 

I actually read all of your posts very carefully. It's full of knowledge. You are the one who told me that life is not that easy so I've to keep struggling.

Reading about your meaning of the painting,I came to know that I was just at a starting point.The meaning was so deep and touching.
Thank you for letting us to see this wonderful painting......

 

This remind me of some lessons in Philosophy I had in school. There were many theories why a painting would be considered beautiful.
1. Ιf the work of art presents the reality. Like if there is a landscape that is so similar to what we see.
2. If the painting doesn't represent what we see in the world but if it reveals a deeper reality. For example the religious paintings.
3. If one painting expresses the feelings of the painter.
4. The art as a game of fantasy. Surreal paintings.
and of course there were other theories as well. But that's a big conversation. It is so difficult to determine what makes a painting beautiful or even an experience.

I think I understood how you felt, we all get this high for some unique experiences. I loved the comparisons you mentioned.
But how does one go on with their lives after such an experience? That's very difficult always.

Thank you for telling us the story behind the painting! I believe it helps a lot to connect with not only the painting but the painter too. Even if we know the motives each one who sees the painting connects with it in a different way. And I think that's amazing, art is amazing and your way of painting expresses so many feelings.

We should thank you for sharing all your thoughts about your art

 

Thanks you all for your comments they help me alot!!! Especially with writing my book, it helps to know what people want to know/ learn about a painting and the painter.

Thanks!

Arielh - You the way I went on with life after that experience with the Monet's was that I was able to hold that experience in my heart which made life a little bit easier for awhile.

 

Magnanimous Heart - I like the phrasing.

What I see from your painting is - Its very minute and arranged in symmetrical way. You must have put in lot of efforts & strain (which cannot be expressed in words) to do each one of the painting. It requires a determined concentration and dedication to do it. You forgo your pleasure and think about nothing else and take strain to complete it and make it expressive. It is just like me drafting a case. Drafting a case is the basis of winning it. So you have express all the facts in a legal way for the judge to understand. You try to make him understand. You express it in such a way. You have done just like it. You have taken such a strain to express yourself through painting and have created master pieces.

You have used your disorder to your advantage, channelized it and became a expert. Whenever I see your paintings I cannot think of it as a painting. It is like some great minute embroidery work done in a cloth through machines. That is it is so systematic. It looks like humanly impossible.

In short I say is I admire you. You have braved it.

I think I can understand what you say. One of my family member is with undifferentiated schizophrenia and OCD for the past 18 years and more. With great effort we have brought him to the world again. So I can understand what all hardships and torture you underwent and braved it. I am really happy to know you. Our fight with the disease has left me drained and weakened somewhat. But reading your post given me strength. For 18 years I and my parents have suffered with him. Laughed while he laughed, cried while he cried and bore all his anger and accusations etc.,. It has a toll on us. All our lives have been a turmoil for nearly 2 decades. we forgot we had a life of our own. But he is now recovered a lot. So we are happy and our losses are nothing compared to his and is worthwhile his recovery. There is still more to recover. But atleast now he has got back into the society a little bit. There is still a great way to travel. We will fight it. Do not know what twist and turns we might face. Its uncertain. After reading your post, I am somewhat strengthened and it gives me more hope & vigour - That many are struggling in their life and are trying to organise their life. So I need not feel depressed about the turmoils. Try to overcome it.

I do not know whether you know John Nash. He was diagnosed with schizophrenia. But later on won Nobel Prize for his work. He was our inspiration. Our doctor recommended us to read the book A Beautiful Mind or see the movie in the same name. It is based on his life.

sglick, YOU HAVE GOT A BEAUTIFUL MIND. Your paintings express it.

Hope I have not said anything wrong. If so forgive me.