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| This
portrait is about facing the stark emptiness of a blank canvas or
piece of paper. The setting is dry and barren. I wait for my muses
to come. I crack a smile as I sense their presence. One eye is
open to let in the outside influences. The other eye is closed in order
to see from within. Cats roam around, moving the subtle air. The first
mark will soon be made. The leaves on the trees will begin to flourish. |
| Some
quotes on the subject of beginnings: One never knows what one is going to do. One starts a painting and then it becomes something quite else. It is remarkable how little the 'willing' of the artist intervenes. (Pablo Picasso) The beginning is the most important part of the work. (Plato) You know... that a blank wall is an appalling thing to look at. The wall of a museum – a canvas – a piece of film – or a guy sitting in front of a typewriter. Then, you start out to do something – that vague thing called creation. The beginning strikes awe within you. (Edward Steichen) Easy is right. Begin right, and you will be easy. Continue easy and you are right... The right way to go easy is to forget the right way, and forget that the going is easy. (Chuang Tzu) In beginning a picture, he could never say how it would come out. (Emile Zola on Edouard Manet) I don't go into the studio with the idea of "saying" something. What I do is face the blank canvas and put a few arbitrary marks on it that start me on some sort of dialogue. (Richard Diebenkorn) I see the canvas and I begin... It's a necessary evil to get into the work, and it's pretty marvelous to be able to get out of it. (Willem de Kooning) That's the horrible thing starting out, you get distracted a lot because anything is easier than writing. It's just the same enemy – blank paper. (Jimmy Breslin) Do not grasp the brush before the spirit and the thoughts are concentrated. (Anonymous Chinese painter) Begin at the beginning... and go on till you come to the end: then stop. (Lewis Carroll) |