Emotions

Now that I've established that no one is reading this blog, I'm free to say whatever I want! So let's get down and dirty. Let's talk about those nasty things called emotions.

I've studied and practiced meditation off and on for about twenty years, and I spent many years of long sessions with my friend Michael Benner trying to learn emotional control. Both Michael and meditation were attempting to teach me to detach from my emotions. But here's the thing . . . when I'm detached from my emotions I'm not creative. Maybe because I use creativity as an outlet for my emotions. When I'm feeling complacent, there's no motivation to create. The more intense the emotion, the more intense the creative work that comes out of it. There's nothing like anger to propel me into the studio and fuel my creativity. I can't create something from nothing. I have to FEEL something passionately in order to be creative. Otherwise my work becomes mechanical, and I'm just going through the motions.

Sorry, Michael.

So now I'm listening to early Bob Dylan, and feeling both angry and sad. I've heard it said that rock 'n roll is second chakra music -- it stirs up your emotions. In that case, bring it on!

I did the underpainting for the first big painting in my new series today. It's not BIG big. I decided to go with 36" x 48" for this first group. It's a size that's a little bigger than I usually work, but it will still fit in my car.