-The power of painting-

Goals and more philosophy

    I'm always nervous to see if the patron will like the commissions that I have painted for them.  And recently I had the pleasure of painting a memorial portrait.  The portrait was a gift from the wife of her late husband, to the husband's parents.  At this point, I had deleted facebook and focused all my energies into this portrait.  The painting went fairly smoothly, taking about 4-5 days to complete the surface.  And when I gave the painting to the woman who commissioned it, she was very pleased with it.  And, for me, that makes the entire frustrations that I almost always experience, very worthwhile. 
   What also hit me was that painting really has the power to bring men back to life.  That's why painting will never die.  At least, that is to say that good* painting will never die.  And for commissions that is something that I really want to try my hardest for.  I want my skill level to be high enough that the painting transforms to create that feeling that is found in Bouguereau and Miyazaki.  Those are some of my goals in the next 10 years.  I have some longer term goals as well, but I plan on honing my skills by practice and life experience, which is why you will not find me on facebook.  I spend time writing on this blog as a platform for my own thoughts, so it is more of a diary than anything else.
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Miyazaki captures this longing and nostalgia beautifully:

“To be born means being compelled to choose an era, a place, a life. To exist here, now, means to lost the possibility of being countless other potential selves.. Yet once being born there is no turning back. And I think that's exactly why the fantasy worlds of cartoon movies so strongly represent our hopes and yearnings. They illustrate a world of lost possibilities for us.” 
― Hayao Miyazaki, Starting Point: 1979-1996

  Anyone looking for something that scratches this sort of philosophical itch should definitely read Starting Point.  I haven't read the continuation, Turning Point, but I'm sure it's brilliant also.