Artist’s Reflections on Painting Blog

I think I was always afraid to paint. Maybe it was too much like exposing my inner self to the world, and I was afraid of what the world would think. I wasn't sure I had the talent to paint. I couldn't accept the postmodernist view about being an artist. That you could be an artist simply because you chose to be one. I had to seriously think about whether or not I could be an artist, especially after the art school I attended sent me a letter half way through the year, telling me I had no talent, very low creativity and so on, even though I had had to complete a portfolio before entering the school to determine whether or not I had the talent to be accepted. Years and years later, in Manitoba, I began to paint in Watercolor. I entered one of my early paintings - “Spring Coming” into a Juried show in Winnipeg. It was one of 40 out of 400 chosen for a show at the Manitoba Archives. That was thrilling. After that, I had paintings juried and accepted for the sales and rental department at the Winnipeg Art Gallery. Another gallery in Winnipeg accepted nine paintings and sold them all within a very short time. More than the outward success I experienced, it was the experience of painting itself that enabled me to realize what it meant to be an artist. My husband told me he experienced the Manitoba landscape differently after living with my paintings of it. He saw it. The paintings enabled him to really see the mystery and beauty of that landscape as it was. During my university years in the Visual Arts Dept, I struggled continually with what art was about. I wrote two essays on the subject and was able to express my conclusions about art, and a definition:

"Art is the undefinable communication between brain and hand that conveys meaning and substance about life through artistic expression. The artist translates his/her seeing into tangible form. Therefore, we connect with the world in a broader, richer sense because of the gift the artist gives."