Trees Behind la Madelene

  oil on panel  7" x 10"   

"We work in the dark, we do what we can, we give what we have.
Our doubt is our passion and our passion is our task. The rest is the madness of art."  Henry James

 The best days are when one has an intuitive visual connection with an arrangement of shadow and light, space and form, color and tone. The key is then to begin to explore the setting without judgement or reserve - just allow one's eye and brush to construct form from the core of massed shapes out - without concern for edges or definition - within the structured discipline of true, accurate seeing. When it all comes together the lucky painter sees the poetry of the moment and place emerge as if by magic. All that is required is a balance of opposites - freedom and control; care and abandon; understanding and unknowing - all at once. 
Hence the 'madness of art'.