"If it is only a dream, why is pain so real?" "A dream head struck against a dream wall causes dream pain. A dreamer is not cognizant of the hallucinatory fabric of a dream until he awakens. Similarly, man does not understand the delusory nature of the cosmic dream of creation until he awakens in God." Paramahansa Yogananda

Sunday, May 2, 2010

Creativity

"Walkin Bear", Oil on canvas, 24x18, $540
If you are interested in purchasing this painting please
email me at katherine@katherinetreffinger.com

"Do you think that when Rembrandt was painting, he
stood there with a brush in his hand thinking, "Okay,
I wonder what my next brushstroke is going to be. If
I put it there then it may clash with that. I'm not quite
sure, but maybe two more centimeters to the right,
let's measure it. It might look better over . . ."
Creativity arises out of the state of thoughtless presence
in which you are much more awake than when you are
engrossed in thinking." Eckhart Tolle

For those of you following both of my blogs please
excuse my posting the same painting. I try not to.
However, the process by which this painting was
created was a spiritual experience for me and
therefore belonged on this blog. I had been trying
(the operative word) to finish a painting for a week
now that has been sitting on my easel. Saturday I
just stepped up to it and finished it. I was very peaceful
and my mind was quiet as I picked up a canvas covered
in paint that was no where near to being a painting. I
just started applying paint, mostly tinted whites and
didn't think about it. In a very short period of time I
had finished this painting. I have been trying (again the
operative word) for as long as I have been an artist to do
abstract figurative work to no avail. This painting just
arrived because I was as much in a state of no mind as
I attain at this point in my development (which I am
thrilled to experience).

Now the challenge will be to approach the next canvas with
emptiness, rather than expectations and fears that the
abstract/figurative work will, or will not, appear again.

2 comments:

ArtPropelled said...

Great to hear about your process and of course the painting speaks to me. You've created such a powerful striding figure.

The state of no mind while creating art is something I strive for but then I suppose that is what all artists strive for. The last piece I carved took more thought than usual so perhaps that is what I struggled with when assembling it. Having to think about it rather than wafting off into a mediative state. Food for thought.

Katherine said...

"Food for thought" or not!!! :^}

It must be especially challenging staying out of the way in 3d where pieces must fit together, but you are beautifully successful. I certainly wish I could stay in no mind for creating, but as Steven Levine once said "the ego wants to be present at it's own funeral.