no art of imitation

[^ Sundown On the Marshes. Marmora, NJ.
watercolor on paper. approx. 12x15". January 2012.]

"If 'imitation' were to be understood as meaning exact reproduction or copy of reality, it would have to admitted that, apart from the art of the cartographer or the draughtsman of anatomical plates, there is no art of imitation. In that sense, and however deplorable his precepts may be in other respects, Gauguin, in maintaining that painters should give up painting what they saw, was formulating an elementary truth which the Masters have never ceased to practice. The imitative arts aim neither at copying the appearance of nature nor at depicting 'the ideal', but at making something beautiful by the display of a form with the help of visible symbols."
- Jacques Maritain, Art and Scholasticism, Ch. VII The Purity of Art, (1930)

There is a point during the creative process where you know something is working out. The image finds its place on the paper or canvas or whatever surface you are working on, telling you that you are on the right track, even despite things taking a course different than expected. Different, but not wrong. I think it may come from carrying an inner perception or understanding --- a familiarity --- with the thing you are trying to represent.

I grew up on the beaches and tidal flats of South Jersey and those long minutes wherein day loses all its strength and rolls up into the approaching dark are as familiar to me as anything in this world. The light, the quiet, even the air is just a certain way and there is a point when all the dark sits out there on the marshes. The sky goes all electric and the colors can hold you spellbound. To see it is to witness some manifestation of peace and fear.