The Cost of Art
There’s a question I often hear people ask: why does original art cost what it does? In many ways it’s a fair question and I remember a time when I used to ask it too. It’s only when you have spent time on the other side of the easel that you realise that much of what goes into creating and bringing a painting to life remains invisible.
Put together the visible and the invisible, though, and you start to understand what you are really paying for.
The Sanctuary of a Bird Hide
I can think of few other scenarios where strangers sit with each other in this way. Perhaps a library, a church or an art gallery. But in the middle of a pond in the middle of nowhere? This draughty little space, with its row of benches below a tableau of wide-open windows, contains within its square footage a small sanctuary of wakeful awareness - not dissimilar to a library or church.
The Dazzle and Flurry of Spring
When I come to my studio to paint, I find that I slip into a different state of being.
Somehow, in my journey with watercolour, I have always understood that I am not the one in charge here. The water is the key - allowing this to move, create its own pathways, shape the subject in its own way - this is what makes for a fulfilling painting experience, and a successful painting.