Shadows
I have a still life of a skull, a box, and a cup that I did in college that hangs in my studio. It’s a favorite of mine because it was the first time I started with dark grey paper rather than white. I drew with white chalk rather than black charcoal. Everything was flipped. I had to find the light and draw the image using that rather than focusing on the dark parts. It was a challenge to switch this thinking, but it seemed to come so naturally. The image slowly emerged out of the paper, as if it were coming out of the shadows.
I’ve recently gone back to this in a new series I’ve been working on, and started painting my canvases dark before I begin. I’ve been referring to this series as “Shadows”. The idea of the image emerging from the shadows, coming into the light, resonates with so many areas of my life.
Coming into the light – coming into truth, or understanding. Having been blinded and slowly following the light to see. To emerge. This happens in all areas of life – it’s spiritual, physical, mental, and emotional.
I find that I often start in darkness and have to battle to see the light. Maybe that’s part of growing up and seeing how the world actually operates. Seeing how much darkness there is, and how little knowledge we actually have. How little our abilities are to actually fix problems.
There has to be hope though. There has to be some bit of light that we can come into. Some clarity that continues to pull us and keep us looking forward. We have to find that light, fight for it, and cling to it. One of my favorite quotes comes from J.K. Rowling (I’m a huge Harry Potter fan). In Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, Dumbledore explains, “Happiness can be found, even in the darkest of times, if one only remembers to turn on the light.”
I don’t know exactly where this new painting series will take me, but I’m excited about this bit of light that I’ve found. I hope that you see these paintings and they resonate with you. Maybe they make you a bit uncomfortable, realizing the areas that you stand in darkness, but maybe they give you hope that there is still light to be found.
