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Focus on the Joy of Painting

"The Picture that looks as if it were done without an effort may have been a perfect battlefield in its making." - Robert Henri

Each month in the newsletters to come, I will share how I am working out the four steps of my residency plan of the Allagash Wilderness Waterway at Lock Dam on Chamberlin Lake. 

In this special edition I will focusing on the second step essential to being a productive plein air painter in a residency like this one. And that is, maintaining a 2) Focus On The Joy Of Painting. Recently I began my race this summer by painting 19 small oil sketches. They were nineteen 8 x 10 inch cradled panels I created on Monhegan Island, Maine last week, July 4th to July 11th. Seven of the paintings were chosen by the Lupine Gallery at their location on Monhegan and 12 of them will be available for my Allagash Wilderness waterway fundraiser through eBay's online auction. 

But few people know that these painted sketches were created despite an awful week that I had to battle through. In fact it was more like a perfect storm that seem to come out of nowhere that blindsided me with negative circumstances. Some of the major things that went wrong were things like 1) aggravating and wrenching my ACL on the side of my left knee to the extent that I could barely walk, needing help off of Squeaker Cove with my equipment, enduring the pain. 2) Underestimating the cost of everything including eating out and spending more money than I expected at the various different establishments on Monhegan Island. 3) Losing my I-watch on the Blackhead Trail and having to spend hours retracing my steps with my I-phone, while getting stung in the neck by a bee, and eventually finding it at the base of a thick bush that must have ripped it off my wrist when I grabbed it negotiating a steep descent on the rugged A-1 trail. I couldn't believe I actually found it! 4) And to top it all off, my truck received a 36-inch triple scratch and dent from a white cable & communications vehicle in the main Monhegan Boatline parking lot as he was trying to park next to me. Although it was never reported, it was caught on video surveillance and the person never reported the accident! All of these incidents hit me almost supernaturally and without warning. I didn't see them coming and It would have been easy to quit and just give up when they occurred. If it weren't for my wonderful wife and my excellent friends I'm sure I would have. So why was I able to find strength and joy in the midst of the storms? 

First of all, I discovered that you can not depend on youself and try to muscle out what you are going through without the mercy and compassion of you friends and family. Love and mercy can be found in the eye of your storms if you don't try to go it alone. With each trial, as humbling as it might have been, there was always my friends and family in the midst of my storm who helped me with my painting equipment so that I could walk on level ground, help me with my expenses, help me search and find my watch which I finally did, and follow up with an accident report that I am still hoping for a good report. 

The second thing I realized is that, when you are hit hard with a difficulty or storm, there is usually a purpose connected to it that is often hard to see at the time you are going through it. My pastor retold an unusual story, of all things, about an evil witch. He said something to the effect that: 

"There was an evil witch in a remote forest who enslaved a young woman who had to serve her because she was under a spell placed on her by that very same witch. A weary traveler would come to the cottage and the young woman would show the traveler to their room that had the most comfortable bed. Time and time again travelers would come and sleep in this bed and by morning would be turned to stone only to be placed in the witche's garden.

The young women who saw this happen over and over again had compassion on the travelers and yet could do nothing to warn the travelers, because she was still under the witches spell. So one day a handsome young traveler came along and she decided to do something about it. She stuff the bed with gravel, rocks and pointy sticks before showing him where he would sleep. The traveler could not get any sleep that night because the more he moved the more a new pointy stick would poke him or a stone would embed in his skin. Early the next morning he arose and complained to the young woman. "How could you expect me to get any sleep in that bed!" At which the young women replied,"If you only knew what your sleep would have cost you!" And the young man escaped with his life.

Although it is sometimes difficult to view your storms and battles as having a higher purpose, it is true that the humbling process keeps us from having a prideful heart of stone. The secret to painting en plein air with this level of conviction is to not give up or give in and to not allow obstacles and problems, no matter how hard you are hit, to steal and sabotage the joy you find in your painting process. I have rediscovered this personally last week on Monhegan Island; that the greatest artworks have always come with great personal sacrifice. So why should it be any different for us?

By the end of the week my fellow artist friends and my wife who all stayed with me at Zimmie's Cottage on Monhegan Island and encouraged me; saying in one way or another: "Your week might have been rough, but in the end it was worth it for you." Although my difficulties were a price I was willing to pay for, I failed to guard my bitter thoughts that came from my tremendous bad luck. Acting out my bitter thoughts that came from each personal battle lead me to tantrums, jealousy, self pity and distrust that almost destroyed and certainly put a strain on my relationships with my wife and friends. Bitter thoughts are a negative by-product of a storm. Bitter thoughts must be guarded because they will rob you of your everyday joy and take you further than you want to go with everyone around you; never mind keep you from painting productivity. My friends and family seeing that side of me became my deepest regret. But it has been a great lesson for me to learn. And that is, if I had guard my bitter thoughts caused by my unexpected circumstances, then I might have been even more productive than I was.

I will encourage you by leaving you with another of Robert Henri's quotes found in his book; The Art Spirit.

"The only sensible way to regard the art life is that it is a privilege you are willing to pay for. Seldom has the great art or great science of the world been paid for at the time of creation. It has been given, and in general has been cruelly received. You may site honors and attentions and even money paid, but I would have you note that these were paid a long time after the creator had gone through his struggles." - Robert Henri

If you don't have a struggle, a battle or a storm that you are going through, you soon will. So just remember this; especially as an artist, keep painting through your storms, Don't try to go it alone, guard your bitter thoughts, and know there might be an amazing purpose to these trials that will eventually lead to beauty and greatness, even though you can't see it at the time you are going through it!

Michael E, Vermette