The Reality of Painting

I have been struggling (since I started painting) with the many different concepts of art or painting. Some people like what I do and other's not so much.

My reality is that I like beauty and want to paint something uplifting and lovely. I see the natural world as being bright sparkling and clean. It is so bright and brilliant to me that most paintings I see, although maybe technically sound, fail to bring me my sense of nature. However, seeing a painting that simply brings forth brilliance without being faithful to the natural world is not what I have in mind. The brilliance of nature is how I see. It is not a gimmick nor is it a style. How to bring about the bright sparkle of nature is my job.

Some artist only think that a painting with a message or a mood, or vague atmosphere constitutes good art. I have been told that painting something uplifting is a mood. I still take umbrage with this idea. Moods seem to come and go whereas beauty, happiness and pleasure are my reality.

A Quote from the writings of Stephen Pressfield...

The only reality that exists is the one we socially construct for ourselves and others of like mind.

There exists no one reality that can be accessed through empirical research. And, we can’t be sure that the reality we observe exists independently of our observation of it. All human associations, social identities and the interests of purposive actors, are continually shaped, and guided primarily by shared ideas and biases. Furthermore, all relations are socially constructed and given form by social practices and interactions.

Why this matters?

Often, ideas are discounted because they don’t mesh with someone else’s concept of reality.

End of day, we have to consider the different realities—because the one thing I think we can all agree on is that, there’s no one-size-fits-all solution, because the realities vary so greatly.