L Diane Johnson

COLLECTORS, FRIENDS AND STUDENTS alike have asked me about how I can possibly start with a bare canvas or paper and produce a painting! "How is it that you can create a painting from a mess of paint initially thrown on the surface?"

The answer is not an easy one. Nevertheless, here are some clues...

Any trade or profession requires technical skill, as well as thinking, emotion, and talent combined. All of these elements (except our natural God-given talent) require an enormous investment in "time" to develop. It takes time to learn, to practice, or to produce something, including a work of art. I am just beginning to realize the role time plays in being a painter. Not the time spent in executing an individual painting, but rather, life experience in total. Creating art is a lifelong process.

So how do I answer the above question? I don't really know. What I do know that nothing comes easily. Each painting I create is challenging yet deeply rewarding. But I no longer worry or think about the finished product. If I concentrate on rendering what I am observing as I paint the final result takes care of itself.

It's not really a question of "how I did" this or that, but rather, what comes as a result of the whole creative process. As many have said, "painting is like handwriting." No matter what skills are gained or attained, each person's signature is unique. So it is with painting.

There is something in painting which cannot be explained, and that something is essential. You come to nature with all your theories, and she knocks them all flat. - Pierre Auguste Renoir