'My head is bursting..."

Windfall 1

 9" x 12"  oil on linen

Windfall 2 

 9" x 12"  oil on linen

“Every day I discover more and more beautiful things. It's enough to drive one mad. I have such a desire to do everything, my head is bursting with it.”     Claude Monet

I've discovered that the only way to relieve the 'bursting head syndrome' Monet refers to, (and I've suffered from this problem all my life), is to perform a metaphorical trepanning every day by trying to paint something of beauty. Trepanning as I understand it, was a way of relieving pressure on the brain by drilling a hole in one's skull - sometimes an emergency technique for severe head injury. Doctors performed an actual trepanning on the painter George Braque to help him with head injuries suffered as a soldier in WWI. He survived to paint well for years after this procedure! 

Back to the Monet quote and the idea of the head bursting with ideas - I have found the real key to the cure for trying to grab onto all the amazing beauty that confronts the painter is twofold. First, one must have a way of selecting and simplifying. My way is to allow myself to wander visually and land upon any possible thing that I find intriguing. No judging - I'll turn off my "good/bad - correct/incorrect" brain and just allow myself to look and feel and think. Some subject will trigger if I don't force it in any way. THEN I STOP!! I have to now really investigate along the lines of - 1. What is the poetry here (the star of the show)? 2. What is the visual structure of elements that brings forth the poetry? 3. What will my strategy be (color scheme, mark making, emphasis/de-emphasis, and so on) to keep the poetry alive and deliver it to the viewer? After careful consideration of these questions - I'm ready to start setting up and painting.

So, first a trigger and second an investigation. This way one can come to grips each day with the overwhelming sense of possibility and beauty. Once one gets into the habit of the two steps, one is free to paint as Robert Henri once described,

"A man singing and striding over the top of a hill".  
I always try to keep my picture of that happy man in mind.