A painting is a conversation. The blank of the canvas is the same as that static moment of meeting where two people pause just prior to the words flowing out. One brush stroke, one statement, begins this dialog. The artist guides the flow of marks as they spill out and build upon the surface of the canvas; as a speaker attempts to guide the direction of a conversation to satisfy his or her desires. Every stroke, every colour, creates fewer and fewer correct possibilities for what should or could appropriately follow in relation to what has been revealed; the same as the statements of a spoken conversation dictate what words or thoughts might appropriately follow. Once this conversation has begun it no longer exists solely inside the painter’s head but exists simultaneously upon this canvas of reality; the same as when the words have tumbled out and hang in beauty in the air for all to hear. A conversation flowers and can grow wondrous and meaningful with clever self references to earlier things spoken and with allusions of cleverness to come. The participants parlay back and forth and weave a playful tapestry of fact, fiction and personal interest but also of deference to one another. Each speaker must both follow and lead in order to create a dialog worthy of remembrance. As a painting develops the canvas itself becomes its own voice; its own partner in the dialog of creation. The artist must listen to what the canvas is saying and respond not only skillfully, thoughtfully and playfully; but without hesitation. Over think what you are about to say in a conversation or attempt to selfishly control it’s direction will result in a stilted, forgettable discussion. The painter too must willingly give himself to the moment at hand, risking everything and holding nothing back. Hold back anything  of yourself in the act of creation and the conversation crumbles. A painting is a conversation and the artist must not only speak, but also listen. 

Johannes Vermeer’s “The Artist’s Studio” is a complicated conversation indeed and no one has been better at weaving the play of lights, darks, shapes, and colours into something whole and beautiful. As he constructed his composition he created wonderfully correct and wondrously beautiful shapes. All of his elements stand alone in beauty and thought yet support and reinforce one another as bricks do in a wall or as words do in a conversation. In recreating this work I sought to change everything and yet nothing at all. My painting contains all of the elements of my household and my artist paints a cubist version of his woman in blue. Every element I changed created a beautiful chance for failure and success as I attempted to properly weave my statements into a conversation Johannes had hundreds of years ago.

What does my painting say? Alice in Wonderland looks upon the white rabbit or jealously upon the girl in blue. The model looks at the magazine on the table while the Vendetta mask gazes smilingly upon the sculpture on the table which itself looks to see what is hidden behind the curtain. As the artist pauses at his easel he turns to his model in blue; or does he watch the rabbit vanish down the tunnel as he contemplates his own sanity slowly receding away? My artist’s studio is a dialog of harmony yet also of shared and hidden meanings. Simply put, my painting is a conversation about me.