The Zen of Painting

The February/March issue of Skiing magazine has an article about Kristen Ulmer and her Zen skiing clinic in Snowbird, Utah (No Zen on a Powder Day by Leslie Anthony p. 70). Ulmer claims that when you are skiing at your limit, your brain has no time to think of anything else but getting you downhill. It is the ultimate meditative moment. I feel that way about painting. Once I get started, time stops. Nothing from the outside world invades my thoughts while I am focused on the canvas and palette. It is a mental vacation. Now you know why I look forward to it. Sometimes I set an alarm so I can stop painting in time to do something else. I agree with Kristen Ulmer about skiing but it is only one of many ways to reach that Zen state. Painting works as well for me and all I have to do is shuffle into my studio.

Horizons

I started experimenting with linseed oil in 2009 on a series of horizon paintings. The oil makes the paint just glide across the canvas and blend without becoming muddy. This is called

Possibility. Oil on canvas 20x16 inches.

Paths

Both of these paintings are meant to draw you into the unknown. Invitation is just that, an invitation to continue down the path. Stepping Off is a little scarier; there is no indication of how far we may have to fall if we step off.