Meandering

untitled, 34" x 21", oil on panel (in progress)

Last summer, I stood on a cliff overlooking a lock and damn on the Mississippi and thought "I should paint this." Almost one year later, I'm not even close to finishing. As this has been my only "active" painting, the question that immediately springs to mind is "What is taking so long!?!" I wish I had a good answer for that... which is to say, I wish I had an answer I liked, because the truth of the matter is I think I'm just lazy.

I could produce an itemized list of excuses, but when it comes down to it, a painting such as this should not require a year (or more at this rate) to complete. It's not that I don't think about it. I think of it constantly. However, as my mentor has pointed out to me repeatedly, "That's not painting." If only it were. I'd be surrounded by paintings.

I had this same difficultly in college. The number of paintings I "completed" in comparison to the students around me, was paltry. The ironic thing is that I have this idea in my head that I want to be a painter. How exactly does one become a painter without painting?

Whining aside, it's my hope that somehow this blog will motivate me to paint more in order to have something to discuss. Will it work? (cue cliche) Only time will tell.