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| Snow and Rocks II - 9x12 oil - Available One my favorites I'll have a hard time parting with. |
Do you have a hard time parting with the paintings you've made? I do, especially if they are recent ones. But many times, I feel the same about the old ones. As much as I appreciate the money, my heart drops a little when an order comes in.
Each painting contains a bit of the magic that happens when I'm working. For a plein air painting, it's a distillation of the moment: the wine cellar fragrance of the ponderosa pines; the solitary call of the canyon wren; the soft carpet of last year's oak leaves beneath my boots. For a studio painting, it's a crystallization: the pressure of thought and emotion and memory, working against sometimes intractable material, with the molecules suddenly snapping into alignment, creating a new thing of beauty.
How can I part with one? The painting may hang on the wall, sit on a shelf or collect dust in a box, but it still possesses the magic. Even a small piece, squeezed into a plastic file crate with a hundred others and stored in a closet. When I go hunting for the one that has sold, it's not just that one that sparkles with magic—they all sparkle.
It takes awhile for me to truly be ready to wrap up a painting and ship it off. I need time with my paintings, even after they are done. I want to savor them to the fullest.
Don't get me wrong—I am grateful for my collectors. And I am also grateful that they understand me when I say parting is hard.
