““Whatever you feel or think, your exact state at the exact moment your brush touching the canvas is in some way registered in that stroke. If there is interesting or reasonable sequence in our thoughts and feelings, if there is order in your progressive states of being as the paint is applied, this will show, and nothing in the world can help it from showing.””
I feel this. It’s one of the many places that I find my own artistic process and Henri’s intersecting. Often, when I look at a piece of artwork that I’ve finished, I don’t just see the physical artwork. I remember the things that I was thinking about, the music that I was listening to, the things that were going on in my life at the time. For me personally, the artwork is imbued with stories and emotions that are invisible to everyone else. But Henri confirms that there’s more. His profound reflections on this phenomenon are helping me to develop and expand as and artist. The thoughts and ideas can’t be seen, but the moods and emotions can be felt. I’m not creating art, I’m (hopefully) creating emotional response.
The great artist has not reproduced nature, but has expressed by his extract the most choice sensation it has made upon him.” - Robert Henri
I’m taking the creation of this mural very seriously, and am aware of every aspect of it. And so I only come to the studio if I’m in a good frame of mind. I don’t paint if I’m angry, depressed, tired or irritated. This artwork will be experienced by many, many people. I want them to experience the joy, the curiosity, the love of the landscape and love of learning about Robert Henri and his history. The intent of the mural is to convey the beautiful expanses that he was surrounded by in his youth in Cozad, and I want people to feel that.
I’ve been listening to lectures, podcasts and music as I paint. It’s been ridiculously varied depending on my mood, if I need to be concentrating on what I’m doing, or if I’m looking to get lost in the flowing strokes of color. Here is a list of some of the things I’ve been listening to: Salome: Carl Jung’s Red Book, Positive Disintegration: A Path to Authenticity podcast, Your Undivided Attention podcast, Robert Henri’s Sense of Place (color theory lecture), audio book The Art Spirit, The Emerald Podcast, Ologies Podcast, On Being, and This American Life. Music is all over the map; newgrass, folk, southern gothic, Billie Holiday, Django Reinhardt, The Wailin’ Jennys, Patty Griffin, Emilou Harris, John Prine, Nouvelle Vague, Mambo Loco radio, Buena Vista Social Club, and more.
I often wonder what Henri would have listened to while he worked. I wonder if he would enjoy what I’m listening to. And then I wonder how he would have used technology and his thoughts about AI and creativity. It would have been wonderful to sit down with him and have a conversation.