I am beginning to realise and possibly grasp what I am chasing, revealing, and trying to catch. I am not sure realising is the right word; it is not exact enough for that struggle where you try to put your finger on something. Words are helpful but not always the best way to find answers.
These writers sum up my ‘thought quest’ far more eloquently with their words.
Virginia Woolf:
” I feel as though I had grasped the central meaning of the world, & all these poets & historians & philosophers were only following out paths branching from that centre in which I stand. And then — some speck of dust gets into my machine, I suppose, & the whole thing goes wrong again.“
“Behind the cotton wool is hidden a pattern… the whole world is a work of art… there is no Shakespeare… no Beethoven… no God; we are the words; we are the music; we are the thing itself.”
Pablo Neruda:
“There is another reality, the genuine one, which we lose sight of. This other reality is always sending us hints, which without Art, we can’t receive.”
Saul Bellow:
“Only art penetrates … the seeming realities of this world.”
I embarked on this search to find an answer to my question regarding where we find residue, magic and learning in Art.
Why do I think that painting will bring me an answer?
I don’t think it will; I feel it will.
I searched the internet for a Humphry Bogard clip about the ‘detective’s hunch’. The internet responded to ‘I feel it in my gut’ with this –
How do I treat a nervous stomach?
- Try herbal remedies. Certain herbs can ease the nervous stomach in some people as it’s happening. …
- Avoid caffeine, especially coffee. …
- Practice deep breathing, mindfulness, and meditation. …
- Try calming diffuser oils or incenses. …
- Find space for yourself to relax.
I laughed. Although the web is an excellent place to relax, it can produce revealing and serendipitous truths.
I decided to go with –
“A hunch is creativity trying to tell you something.” FRANK CAPRA
and,
“When your head says one thing and your whole life says another, your head always loses.”
HUMPHREY BOGART – Frank McCloud
These explanations will do for now. I am impatient and eager to join the dots and pull threads while painting. Painting is my favourite place to think.
Sources.
Popova, Maria. ‘Virginia Woolf on Why She Became a Writer and the Shock-Receiving Capacity Necessary for Being an Artist. Brain Pickings, 9 Sept 2015, https://www.brainpickings.org/2015/09/09/virginia-woolf-cotton-wool-moments-of-being/.
Virginia Woolf on Why We Read and What Great Works of Art Have in …. https://www.themarginalian.org/2020/01/23/virginia-woolf-genius-and-ink-reading/
Instinct Quotes from Movies, Tv Series and Cartoons: Phrases, Lines – Movie Quotes.Com. https://www.moviequotes.com/topic/instinct/. Accessed 23 Sept 2021.
Sarah Chalkie Cloonan 