Comments on: Figuring things out?

By: louise

louise — Mon, 04 May 2009 03:17:34 +0000

Perhaps your soul searching is not as complicated as a first glance suggests? You are an artist. You are a painter. You are gifted. Natural ability often creates complacency, laziness and questions. Repeated accolades can interfere with thoughtfulness, feeling and meaning to your art works. I watched you paint the Boat House one spring day. The fluidity and ease you demonstrated with each stroke is rare.
You have the born talent to decide to move ahead with purpose; a purpose you will need to find and with luck enjoy.

By: Kathy

Kathy — Tue, 14 Apr 2009 11:54:25 +0000

So well put, Colin! Exactly what I’ve been thinking but couldn’t have said it as well.

By: admin

admin — Thu, 09 Apr 2009 00:44:21 +0000

Hi Mary and Bob,

Thanks so much for the kind words. I really appreciate it. I’m glad you find some value here.

Yes Bob, I am also thrilled to have spring coming along. It’s still a bit chilly here, but we are getting some warm days when I can go out and focus on painting on site again. Here’s hoping we all find some new revelations in our work.

By: Bob Lafond

Bob Lafond — Mon, 06 Apr 2009 20:18:45 +0000

I can’t remember how I found your blog, but your paintings are very appealing to me. They do move assuredly along that line between traditional and contemporary, or whatever one might want to call it. I am eager for spring so I can paint outside, and I wish that this spring will bring you new revelations.

By: Mary

Mary — Sat, 04 Apr 2009 02:06:14 +0000

Love your work and I really like your comments about the soul-searching as it concerns your paintings. It really struck a cord with me.

By: admin

admin — Wed, 01 Apr 2009 13:35:06 +0000

Hi Noel,

Thanks for the note. I spend alot of time thinking about my paintings and what they mean, and I’ve been trying to figure out what steps I have to take to keep improving. There is a balance between the thing you mentioned, of letting go while I paint, and then looking critically and thoughtfully after the fact. Even though the artists we respect the most appear to have chosen a subject and worked within it, I would be willing to bet that they were all filled with doubts also. I think that’s what makes them so good… their desire to achieve more.

Snow is still around, but the crocuses are peaking out too!

By: Noel Garner

Noel Garner — Tue, 31 Mar 2009 20:34:52 +0000

Hope you don’t think you are whistling in the wind, Colin. I for one find your comments interesting as I reflect also on what the heck I am doing and why. I sometimes envy people who know exactly what they want to acheive, whether in business, life or art. I’m nearly 60 and am still trying to work it out. Some artists seem to hit their stride and style/content – and of course we admire them for it. Rothko, Cezanne, Mondrian. All instantly recognisable. Maybe I would be helped by looking up and understanding notable artists whose work, was/is eclectic and very varied – perhaps reflecting journey and search more than what appears to me to be an ability to settle on a genre and then explore and express within that self-defined channel. I don’t know of any off-hand. Perhaps that’s why they are not so well-known!
Here’s something I have sensed recently for myself however – it’s time to let go my never-ending search for technical capability and do something with what I already have. I’ve come to this not just through painting but via a concentrated attempt in the last two years to get a good understanding of philosophy. However, the more I read, the more I realize there is yet to read and understand. Perhaps when I’ve just read that book on Derrida, THEN, I’ll try and philosphize! Whoops, how did I get there? Anyway Colin, keep musing. Following your blog BTW is like getting my own personal weather report on your part of the world. Still a bit of snow around. Amazing in comparision with Cambridge UK where the clocks have gone forward to summer time, spring is in the air, and your President is about to fly in to Stansted airport tomorrow – not far from here.