24 November 2021
Letting the batter walk
This morning while looking again at this study that’s been sitting in my kitchen for a few days I began reflecting upon something which is hard to express while looking at this placid-looking picture. It is that it’s almost impossible to describe the chaotic unpredictablitity while painting out in Nature. Although hard to believe from looking at this simple image which conveys tranquility, painting is unruly and precarious. I wonder if it’s not this spectacular precarity why so many of us collectively love sports so much? Watching Iga Swiatek on center court battling Coco Goff for a place in history makes us all feel the the intensity of competion. All is up for grabs, and only the Tennis Gods know the outcome as the rest of us are left on on the edge of our seats. Emotionally, we may all be out of control watching two tennis greats but they are probably not, for no matter which one wins, they have both trained to perform in a storm.
We often hear about writers lament when their own characters go AWOL, or off-script, so it can be for painters when they too lose control over their pictures under an unruly opponant like the sky. And this is the curious nature of all creative endeavours. Any task that requires both rigorous discipline and equally spontaneous action is vulnerable. How does a creator know when he or she is at the helm of their own work, or just in its way impeding it? Or is this just in the realm of the Muses and not to be questioned? Do Coco Goff and Iga Swiatek ever feel complete confidence when walking out on Center Court at the start of a match? Despite the butterflies I bet they do.
From this simple sky last week I wanted an easy session and I was fairly certain to get one, no drama Obama, as they used to say in the good old normal days. This first painting from the other night, a bit of a surprise too because despite my aforementioned complaints, it actually went exactly where I wanted it to go. I saw the calm sky in my mind upon arriving at the dune and I quickly set up to paint it, because in a precient way I somehow knew it would be a smooth and simple session. I admit it’s an unusual picture even for me but there is a light in the sky that was hurriedly painted at the start and from then on everything I did afterwards was to preserve it. Strangely, what gives it distance is the thin grey strip at the very bottom of the picture, without it the whole image would fall down.
Anyway, I like this study because it’s straightforward, and despite its small size it holds the illusion of a vast open space. It’s about nothing, you may think upon seeing it but sometimes when looking out at the sea, it too, is about nothing. It lacks for any drama, and this happens all the time in fact. I know this, because I watch the sea with all the attention of a whale watcher. Sometimes, when the clouds are asleep like friendly dogs on a soft rug or when the wind is dead and nothing going on it can feel like a clean living room that’s been vacuumed and aired out, ready for some action to happen. The sea and sky is all that too on many days, and it can actually look just like this painting. A study like this one, absent of so much, is also like the Seinfeld show which is also about nothing. Yet in all that television nothingness is a world full of craft and dedication, and that too is also in this picture, completely unoticed. Just like in tennis, when a match is lost, fingers point, but when won, no one questions a thing.
A few others came out of that night in quick succession. They were what I would call ‘careful pictures’, no-problem paintings, like what they say about reliable cars “boring, not great, but they run well”. And like I said, I wanted some easy wins, no drama, just a few easy pictures for the night.
In baseball terms, I was the pitcher up against a very strong batter who was scared of giving up a double, triple or home run even, so I walked him, letting the batter get to first base At the same time, I was also the batter who just wanted to get on 1st base without striking out so I was looking for a walk. No drama.
After this first study the rest came pretty easily. Because of the rains recently I hadn’t been out much, so like I said, I really just wanted some easy
success to build my spirits. Feeling like a novice, I wasn’t looking for trouble and fortunately for me, it was an ‘easy’ sky, not at all complicated. one without too much confusion, logistically speaking, so I was able to make four studies. In the end, I wasn’t actually too happy with the other three but indeed, I was happy to be out there on the raised dune just like pitcher on his mound hoping for success. Sometimes it’s just about getting out to work.
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