Art and Emotions

I am always intrigued about how, good or bad, my emotions seem to be so tied into my art.

When I’m struggling with a painting or can’t firm up an idea, I know I am irritable and way too impatient with myself.  That then takes its toll on the people around me and other areas of my life.

However, the converse is also true: when things are sailing in the studio and I’m excited about the creative things that are happening,  positive things seem to happen all around me.  A smile is plastered on my face, there’s a skip to my step, can’t stop humming, traffic lights turn green, parking spaces open up, I find the short line at the grocery, elevator doors open immediately, etc.

I guess this is part of The Secret/positive attitudes/gratitudes idea; the whole “energy flows where attention goes” concept. Think about negative things and that invites more of the same.  Think positive things and the world reflects it back to you.

Food for thought; just pondering.  More about emotions next post.

Here’s one I did in a weekly workshop this spring, usually with about 2+ hrs of painting time.  No real emotion here.  I like to have a single light source on my subjects providing very direct highlights and shadows on my subjects, but this was very diffusely lit forcing me to discriminate more carefully about lights and darks.  I added a little more to pump up the contrast.

Classroom Still Life #1
10″ x 18″
oil on panel