Painting is a visual art but it can be used to convey much more than visual information. In addition to, or instead of, simply showing the viewer what the subject looked like, an artist can, through skillful use of their materials and a knowledge of the language of visual form, suggest sounds, weather, emotions, movement, texture, and narrative. The elements of visual form - lines, shapes, colors, values, etc. - are analogous to the characters and words in any verbal language. Fluency in the language of visual form can be the means for communicating an infinite number of concepts, both objective facts and subjective ideas.
Of course, a painting can be a means of conveying a wealth of information, describing the appearance of a subject in great detail. This can oftentimes be very useful, but a painting created for this purpose can be thought of as a textbook. Personally, I prefer to think of a painting like a poem, in which common words and phrases are organized in such a way as to evoke an emotion, a feeling, memories, or some fundamental truth that transcends the literal meaning of the words.
Although the inspiration for my paintings comes from places that I have seen, I am more concerned with creating images that represent the way those places made me feel, rather than what they looked like. As a result, the images are decidedly subjective and personal, yet I hope to touch on the universal and create an image that will resonate with each person who sees it.
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