Wavebreaker 4; Eugene Delacroix and the "austere ideas of beauty"

Wavebreaker 4

 oil on panel  11" x 14"

"It is not easy. It is never easy."

"It has to be worked at, and even then you never learn it. No one has any magic way of doing it. No one has anything except an over-mastering desire to do it."

Frank Benson, American Impressionist

"Nourish yourself with grand and austere ideas of beauty that feed the soul."

Eugene Delacroix

With all of Frank Benson's dire warnings I thought perhaps some of Delacroix's 'nourishment of grand ideas of beauty' might be called for. Benson is correct though, it is a constant struggle to attempt to get somewhere near one's original concept and at the same time, allow for the painting to change and develop as it is built. The key through all that, whether a single go over two or three hours or a day after day marathon, is to hold to the discipline of your initial vision. This is a combination of absolute holding to accurate seeing tempered by the poetic idea that first drew one to the subject. All the structural bones come out of the poetry. The vision allows for a chance to bring understanding or form out of the chaos of nature. The only possible way someone might attempt to paint say, a breaking wave, is to have an over-mastering desire to see if one can 

come close to it - in every sense.  Enjoy!