PAINT OR PEACE?

This may look like a canvas of strewn paint....but, it's really that... and much more. I was going through my "appreciation of Pollack" phase and just wanted to simulate the joy he supposedly experienced while slinging paint on a canvas. The flow of the colors, the textures, the splat of paint from different angles and distance...all was quite interesting to me. So, one afternoon I purchased a huge 3'x4' canvas...laid out an old sheet on the driveway...and began slinging. It was quite invigorating. The lack of concern for how the paint addressed the canvas, the vibrant colors beginning to blend...the giant mess that was developing...it was FUN!


Not to insult Pollack...but, this was like taking a refresher course of Art 101 as experienced in 1st grade. It was about no parameters...not being conservative with the paint...no care for the end result...no premeditated vision...really it was like putting a blindfold on, getting behind the wheel of a car and hoping for the best. There was a huge sense of adventure with no idea of how it would end.


This particular afternoon my daughter was just an observer. She made her side bar comments, but felt totally humiliated at my prancing, and was praying no neighbor or friend would happen by as the canvas ritual was going on. But, as time passed, the watching and the embarrassment became instruction...like, "throw this color on there...toss it over your back...why don't you just throw the canvas and see what happens", to the point, I invited her to participate. With much reluctance, we both were slinging paint like Metropolitan Professionals while giggling and solving all the ills of the earth. We slung so much paint it took 4 days of 98 degree weather for it to dry. Layer upon layer of acrylic paint, with layer upon layer of stories to match. It became our version of the "Divine Secrets of the Ma-Da (mother/daughter) Sisterhood." We had a terrific, creative experience!

All this said...I now look at art a little differently. I have often made snide remarks about the simplicity of something, yet, I don't know what went on in the process of its creation. Buried beneath all that paint could be the answer to solving world peace....who knows?