One of my favorite Glen Campbell songs is Gentle on my Mind. The first part is:
It's knowin' that your door is always open
And your path is free to walk
That makes me tend to leave my sleepin' bag rolled up
And stashed behind your couch
And it's knowin' I'm not shackled by forgotten words and bonds
And the ink stains that have dried upon some lines
That keeps you in the back roads
By the rivers of my memory and keeps you ever gentle on my mind
Even though it's a love song, it makes me think of how I feel about painting. Although not every painting is actually gentle on my mind, in fact some make me clear crazy, the process of painting is gentle on my mind.
Drawing a composition out is just the beginning of that process. After it's blocked in, there are things to decide, like what colors will portray the mood I want and what to put into the foreground. I need to understand what attracted my eye to the subject in the first place and which parts I will emphasize or ignore. I drew this one out this afternoon, but now will put it away and go read for awhile. In fact, I'll walk out of the studio and turn off the light and let it rest in my mind till tomorrow. Or the next day.
Thanks for stopping by! Alice
2 comments:
Now you've got me humming that song...I loved John Hartford (the songwriter who penned that wonderful words) and got to see him when he came to Cincinnati when they had the Riverboat festival once every other year. He passed away year's ago. He looked just like my father - so much so that when his first album came out, my father bought it and took it around to relatives who all thought it was him on the front cover :) It's knowing that your door is always open and your path is free to walk....
Good music, good times..
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