“It Won’t Answer When I Ask Its Name, no. 3, 60″ x 60”, originally uploaded by leyaevelyn.
As might be expected, a few people who know my work thought I would teach at the workshop the same way I paint: expressive and non-representational. But that would have been missing the focus of the program. It was called Direct Perception because we, Jerry, Alan and myself, were presenting ways to connect to our sense perceptions. The more you listen, the more you hear. The more you look, the more you see.
All of this “training” takes a lot of discipline. Without the discipline, nothing can be sustained. With disciple, it can “just happen.” discipline is liberating. As a well known singer said recently (on Q with Gian Ghomeshi, and I am really bad at remembering names!) when listening to recordings of herself, sometimes she thinks, “I wish I had done that.”
My least favorite question is “how long do you paint each day, how many hours?“ I usually say twenty-six hours, eight days a week. The time I spend in my studio is only the beginning. A lot of work happens when I am not there. It simmers, bubbles up. It’s my life, wherever I am, whatever I am doing.
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