The road goes ever on

Do we need to?

So here is the finished painting of the underwater couple - more could be done do it but sometimes leaving something unfinished is a better story.

Sometimes painting is like hill climbing - there is a large hill in a town I used to live in called Mount Climie - its 862m above sea level. One day I thought I’d go for a stroll up it and didn’t bother to take a water bottle or snacks. That hill was harder than I’d imagined a stroll should be. It has one of those tracks that seem to circle forever, the top is always just around the corner… 3 hours later…

Painting is like that… it always seems to be a stroll until you get into it and then the realization arrives that this is going to be all uphill.

The view from Mt. Climie is pretty good and that’s how I feel after a painting is finished - the view is worth the journey.

Perhaps someone will fall in love with this one when it goes up for sale… and their uphill battle will just be determining the value versus the cost.

Isn’t that what we are all trying to calculate? Value vs cost.

If you are a writer here on Substack that will be something you are constantly evaluating - the cost of being here versus the value you get in return.

For some - having interaction is all the value they need…

For others it is a financial return.

Last week the value of Substack went into the negatives for me.

Substack had allowed someone who polarizes to send out a bulk email promoting their views and pushing for subs. It left me wondering what will Substack do next as it sells its soul for cash.

I felt a little like LSP

But a few blocks later and I find myself at least talking about art again.

This painting will sit on the easel for a week or 2 to allow me to fine tune tiny parts to make it pop - I didn’t include the air bubbles on this one as I believe in editing the art.

Giving all the detail is like explaining a joke and if you have to explain the joke then its not funny. Flooding a painting with detail removes the option of the viewer from filling in the blanks themselves.

Which is why the bottom of the painting is not finished - it just needed a few descriptive marks and then left - its not the point of interest in the painting - the story is.

The kiss - the emotion in motion - that’s all there is.

Art speaks to all of us differently. A portrait of someone we love is a story we can return to over and over - but for someone else it is a place captured in time that they want, or even just the excitement of primary colours splashed on a canvas.

I don’t know how big an audience there is for romantic art - but I do know we all understand love and want to be loved. Perhaps that kiss is going to inspire love in someone - maybe it was just me that loved the idea of it.

In any case it is mostly finished and the next one needs to begin as there is always another corner to go round and whatever mountain range I am climbing I’ve only just left base camp.

Wishing you a good week ahead.