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The idea of painting the

Inner Landscape

boils down to this one idea that I have noticed

The more I search internally

(through trauma work, journaling, meditation, and therapy)

the greater my success and understanding of painting

And to be completely honest

the searching and painting of the external landscape en plein air

really has felt like

therapy

where my

therapist

consistently draws connections from

the sweeping vistas

maze of trees

epic skies

back to what is happening

inside of

Me

Now good people may I present

Exhibit A

The 4 panels

would be the whitest a painting could be

if I was painting as close to reality as possible

essentially

white

right out the tube

Now lets try the opposite

Exhibit B

4 panels

that if painted in a realistic way

would be using

black

paint right out the tube

It is so interesting the separate and distinct feelings that even just these two images evoke in me

it is visceral

The scene isn’t that interesting but

dang

I feel like I am

pulled

towards the

black

panels

Invited

into

four

different doorways

that lead to

4

new worlds

mysterious and alluring

Exhibit A

My body reacts almost entirely different

How those intense vibrant panels are pushing me away

four huge flat hands telling me to halt and head back from whence I came

Brrr

Shivers

Now

here are the images outside of a representational context

Reduced to its

Notan

(A Japanese concept originally, you should google it)

the rhythmic composition of

Black and White

Exhibit C

And it’s opposite

Exhibit D

How do these two images effect you?

What are your first impressions?

Is there movement?

Are you feeling happy or sad?

Which is more striking?

Take note

really search

within

find even the smallest

nuance

or

difference

The first reaction to an image

or scene

happens within

the first few seconds

If you need to take a break and come back to

look again

we want that gut reaction

having viewed

and gathered

the

emotional data

of your response

know that

in your

response

is the key to

Your

inner landscape

to what makes

you

tick

Exhibit C & Exhibit D

are the way we understand the world

at its most foundational

I walk out into the world

the first bit of information that my eyes gather

are these

Black and white

simple shapes

our physiology is set up

in this way

an evolutionary trait

that was designed to keep our ancestors

safe

in an uncertain

world

I feel like

Jay Moore

explained this to me first during my mentorship

Here is a technical article on the

physiology

Rods in the eye see Black and white, they are located in a way that are designed to work best in dim light and with the special ability to catch movement in the periphery. There are about 120 million of them.

Cones in the eye see colour and straight ahead detail. The Focusing part of the eye. There about 5 million per eye.

the rods

seeing in

black and white

are attached to our

fight

or

flight

response

The ancient part of us that was used to

protect us from

danger

keeping a watchful eye on our surroundings in low light situations

It is what we react to

first

it is the part of us that stops us

just in time

or

causes us to move quickly

without any cognitive thought

This type vision

is attached to our most

animalistic fears

and

desires.

This point is the clincher for me

as I set up to paint

beginning my thumbnails

I search the scene for

black and white shapes

intentionally

Viewing the fodder for painting

with a side glance

on the periphery

of my

field of vision

I have found honing this visual response and being able to view almost completely and continuously in this mindset

allows me

to view the world

through my most

foundational lens

my base fear

and

desires

are what I am reacting to

I scan my surroundings and

take note

my mind

ranks the importance of the information coming in

a hierarchy based

on what

I

fear/desire

the most

the visual data I accumulate

ascribed to my own emotion and bias

this is what drawing and painting does

It is the forming of an artist’s

visual voice

I am gathering data on how simple shapes of light and dark effect me

I am equating my foundational fears and desires and the emotions attached to them to the visual markers that initiated them

White squares on black

or

black squares on white

and the emotions they evoke

Now

the painting or drawing has my unique voice

interwoven with each mark

the more I progress

the more my visual language grows

and