old and new and borrowed and blue

A Big Family: Zhang Xiaogang

Painting is an old old way of thinking.

Each time you come to it, however, the coordinates are new, and you are always starting from scratch, with your muscle memory intact, and all your intentions and inspirations behind you. You are always starting with a blank space, just as millions of other painters have, and do.

Because of this, you are in good company. There are guides along the path of painting-- people who have written and spoken and painted about painting. Films have been made and books have been printed. Blogs and message boards help answer questions and share information.

But to learn to paint, you simply have to paint and paint. You have to make bad paintings. Lots of them. You have to wrestle with minerals and resins-- pieces of the earth and trees and inanimate animal fluids-- hoping to enliven them again. If you're in an art class, you probably already know the addictive spark of recognition-- when mute materials begin to speak-- and when you are allowed to discover something in the ridiculous practice of pushing powdered rock around. Somehow, human beings can't seem to shake painting.

Communion: Robert Hardgrave