Can a Painting Look Angry?

Sometimes I think mine do. My marks certainly are emphatic. I rarely daub at the surface, I slash, sometimes with fury. Is this a good thing or not?

Someone asked me the other day if I am happy when I paint.

That’s a really difficult question to answer. When I’m listening to music (which is what I normally do, my vow of working in silence may not last long), the music can make me sad and weepy — or energized, where I wave my brush, sing and dance around the studio. But happy? Not exactly. I think when the process is going well, I am in a place where time stops, and I am totally involved. It’s like a trance, and then I wake up, as if from a coma, or coming out of anesthesia. What’s on my canvas may be good, (or not), but for a brief moment --several hundred minutes out of my life — I was utterly engaged. I think that’s much better than “happy.” 

Landfill, 2019 (SOLD)