Painting, “On This Day”, by Deborah Chapin

Description

This was particularly timely because I had been thinking, if the arts have died or if people don’t understand the arts enough to support it should you still do it? Sort of the question of the tree falling down in the wood analogy. BTW the tree does fall down regardless of whether we notice it or not.

How do you explain to someone who has never purchased a painting

or had art in their life its importance? How do you explain the importance of art in a person’s life? For me, when I heard those phrases, it seemed to me that you do have a reason for doing the things you do regardless of whether or not anyone at the time is noticing. But looking at my series of dawn paintings which have “turned out” and thinking about that phrase of all the choices that I have made which brought me to that rock and that dawn and that moment in time. The idea became so profound. I do have the chance to perfect my communication.

 

Now what is it about fine art, specifically painting that makes it significant?

Why include it in your life? What is it that makes fine art add depth to your life? I think it is this idea of the focus or purpose of creating it in the first place. I have always looked at painting, as an artist, as a means of communicating, just like writing a book or a poem. When I paint something I’m capturing a moment in time but I also bringing all my depth of experience that I have for that particular subject. All the things that mean something to me are then interpreted through my new experience that I am interpreting into paint at that moment. That is one human communicating across time to another.

Why is this important? Because we are communicators first and foremost and above all we like to share our experiences. This is just how I have chosen to do it. I find something so beautiful I can’t not paint it. And so, I paint it in the hopes of capturing some modicum of that moment and communicating it across time with the hopes that it will mean something to people. A painting can transcend hundreds of years and somebody can look at that painting and experience that moment through that painting. The better you are at observing what the artist is saying, understanding brushwork, understanding color and understanding the whole moment through your experiences and your eye, the better that communication is. If at the same time the artist is skilled and able to say a lot with a little, in other words, they’ve refined their abilities they make it easy for you to understand, then the painting speaks. … See the whole post Why Art is Important.

About the Process

I like to paint several smaller paintings, working myself up to larger work, as I learn the subject matter.  Gradually developing a portfolio which expresses the full character of the place.   Pemaquid Point is no different to than one of my favorite haunts in France.  It must be explored and appreciated and allowed to seep in at it’s own pace.   I am not a slam bam thank you…. kind of artist.  I think of speed as antithetical to art.  I think deeply and like to delve into the nature of the place,  learning the nooks and crannies and developing a deep appreciation of its beauty.   Instant gratification is not my thing.  I have never been someone who thought a cursory look at someplace even counted as having seen something, even as a tourist.   I went back many times, and stayed during long visits of a month or more exploring the culture, the history and the people of a place. This series of plein air and studio paintings are new work added to an already extensive portfolio of 40 years of art.

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