Archive for September, 2010
Searching For Wild Mustangs
Did you think Fresh Horses had galloped away for good? At times, even I thought so. Hear the approaching hoof beats? After a year, Fresh Horses has become — a BLOG!!!
Searching for Wild Mustangs
“If I’d asked people what they wanted they’d have said faster horses” – Henry Ford.
We don’t always know what we want or need until we stumble onto it. Even our imagination can’t possibly dream up all the amazing possibilities. After a few years without time to paint, and my life as I’d known it turned upside down, I’m now ripe for inspiration.
After seeing the evolution of artist friends at their yearly show, I was itching to paint again. But where to find Fresh Horses when you need them?
Look out in a field where mustangs roam.
First I “googled” Mark Rothko and abstract landscape painting, art which has always inspired me. Certain images jumped out and grabbed me. Out loud I said to nobody: “I could do that.”
Of course I could try, but it wouldn’t be me. Yet, repeating my usual approach now seems like riding tamed horses. I long for wild mustangs and a looser expression of my emerging new self.
“The more you focus on what you want, the further away you are from that which brings it.” Sheikh As-Sakandari
So I decided to sneak up on this looser approach by getting my brushes wet. My first one was: Launching Happiness, 20″ X 30″
This is not abstract; it’s a reflection of the bow of a sailboat. Looser is a relative term. So is abstract. Sometimes representational art looks quite abstract, and sometimes abstract art looks rather realistic.
Fragile Trust, 36″ X 20″
The more we try to change, the more we remain the same.
The notion of riding wild mustangs was positively scary, though it promised to “loosen me up”. So I talked with a friend who’d been a client of mine.
Catherine said: “That’s what you taught me! You should take your own courses, Celeste.” She was right. So I did.
I get it now. Being a beginning artist again is indeed an opportunity — a time of preparation, anticipation and excitement of the possibility that exists if we allow ourselves to re-frame our concept of making art.
In his book “Horse Sense for People”, Monty Roberts tells how he watched the body language of wild horses, seeing how they’d flee from a predator but return later to check out this new being. Watching the body language of my own wild horses, I can see my first lessons are: Slow down and Don’t panic.
So what is this fear all about?
I’ve stayed curious about wild mustangs in my personal life over the last 2 years. To my surprise, I found that when you finally find your heart’s truth, you don’t have to puzzle over it; it’s astoundingly obvious. I hardly recognize myself, I’m that happy.
But – What if I don’t see any new found freedom expressed in my art?
Even worse – What if I do?
Though this feels like psychic sky diving, the fact is: it’s out of my hands.
When you come to the end of your resistence, let go.
So, how did I find a looser approach when my habitual brain kept rushing for the safety of the known? It’s not rocket science. Once tuned in to my inner instincts, I sensed how to start. Just say “No!” to the illusion of fear.
“It doesn’t make much difference how the paint is put on as long as something has been said. Technique is just a means of arriving at a statement. Nobody is bored when he is trying to make something that is beautiful or to discover something that is true.” Barnett Newman
In our local thrift shop, I found a handful of tiny wooden photo frames for $1 each. I took out the glass, stretched a piece of raw canvas over the backing board, and stained the canvas with acrylic paint to find an abstract landscape in miniature. Then, I wedged it back into the frame.
So out of humility come my first tentative little loose paintings, a lot like when I started 30 years ago. Miniature abstract landscapes are such easy play, and oh, so satisfying. Abstracts reveal hidden insights into the real world.
“Down to Earth”, 3″ X 5″
“September Field”, 4″ X 6″
The brand new idea I’m investigating
If we can see something real in an abstract image, then could loosening up a realistic image reveal some hidden truth or beauty?
Just as a curious mustang goes back to check out a predator, I keep going back to discover my newly emerging approach. The fear is still there, but continuing to go check it out slows me down and adds to the excitement.
“No! There is nothing but Oneness.” ***
Saying “No! to the illusion of fear helps me stay open to hearing the clear call of “Yes!”.
Yes, my new way to growing freedom is coming clear.
Yes, I will bring back the results, and bravely post them right here for all to see on the Fresh Horses Blog.
Now let’s hear your comments. What have you experienced? Wanna join me in messing about; stirring things up in your studio?
*** Quote from “Six Sufi Teachings That Give Shelter in the Storm”
Article ©2010 Mark Silver http://www.heartofbusiness.com