A Perfect Storm, 16 x 12 in, oil on canvas
There are moments when conditions are so perfect in the studio–the exact temperature and mix of medium to paint to mineral spirits, the right surface, the 10,000 hours of practice already applied and the right mindset of the maker–that a painting just happens. What is most important in these moments is to appreciate the beauty, step back and stop and realize that this particular piece does not need man hours or struggle to validate it–it just is.
“Everything is gestation and then bringing forth. To let each impression and each germ of a feeling come to completion wholly in itself, in the dark, in the inexpressible, the unconscious, beyond the reach of one’s own intelligence, and await with deep humility and patience the birth-hour of a new clarity: that alone is living the artist’s life: in understanding as in creating. There is here no measuring with time, no year matters, and ten years are nothing. Being an artist means, not reckoning and counting, but ripening like the tree which does not force its sap and stands confident in the storms of spring without the fear that after them may come no summer. It does come. But it comes only to the patient, who are there as though eternity lay before them, so unconcernedly still and wide. I learn it daily, learn it with pain to which I am grateful: patience is everything!” ~Rainer Maria Rilke (from Letters to A Young Poet)