Eight layers of paint, Eight failures; but the day will come when this canvas lives and speaks. The necessity of recognizing failure causes many hopeful artists to relinquish their brushes and canvases; often too soon, yet in many instances the failure piece is allowed to represent an artist when he knows that it has no life of its own.
A finished canvas must speak and communicate. Cleverness is failure, and it is much of the failure of the contemporary art world. Don’t seek that which is new or novel for it will not last the moment beyond its creation. Follow that which instinct which is both cerebral and visceral. There should be times in your life when you feel that you must release emotions and thought as paint on canvas. Allow each work to speak that secret language that belonged to you and now lives a life of its own on canvas.
Art is always waiting to be born, and the artist must be prepared for the event. A notebook filled with ideas is a good beginning, but only a beginning. What is it that you need to say in pigments? It should be a part of your life finding itself on canvas.
Art is the poetry that needs no translation or words. It should perplex and leave one with questions or it is too facile. The art must be separable from verbal expression. The need for explanation means that the work is already moribund.
Art may be born of anger, fear or a variety of emotions such as love and sorrow. Yet behind all of these there must be an intellectual basis. The desire to create something that exists
