So let’s talk some art. I paint with little tiny dots. Pointillism.
Formally defined, pointillism is a method of painting using small, distinct dots of pure color that are mixed in the eye of viewer rather than before they are applied to the canvas. Introduced by George Seurat and Paul Signac in the 1880s, post-impressionism, the style is referred to as neo-impressionism. Pointillism is focused on the use of pure color and the specific style of brushwork used to apply the paint. Interestingly, this style of painting was born of a debate about color and the impact colors have on one another. It is a fascinating exploration as you lay colors next to each other and see how one color enlivens another or creates a subdued response. For example complimentary pairs of color like green and red, they never look more vibrant than when they are together. That is why Christmas looks so alive, so captivating. Yet, as with all complimentary pairs of color, if red and green are mixed together before they are applied to the canvas you get brown.
Pointillism is magic.My palette consists of colors that I mix myself. Twelve colors calibrated perfectly with the color wheel, a row of colors a shade darker and three rows each a shade lighter. 12 colors from the color wheel, 5 shades each, 60-2 oz bottles of paint in all, arranged in a mahogany chest. A space along it’s length where I keep tools of the trade: pencils, compasses, a groovy assortment of measuring tools, palette knives, rags and bits of paper. I call it my treasure chest.I love that box of colors.If there were a fire, I’d grab my dog under one arm and my paint box under the other.
In my world, these bottles of paint are bottles of liquid jewels waiting to be offered; each dot, each stroke of the brush, a jeweled offering, a prayer to end suffering. Painting becomes a spiritual practice, pointillism the outer method. As I paint, each dot is visualized as a jeweled universe, stars, moons and planets of red rubies, green emeralds, blue sapphires on and on. Vast, countless offerings visualized and offered requesting blessings to come to the world to end suffering. This becomes my inner practice.Turning the mind each day to the needs of beings and taking an action dedicated to their well-being.
My art becomes prayer. The dots are like seeds of intention that are planted in the universal consciousness. I believe the seeds we plant each moment thru our thoughts and our actions are powerful, transformative.I believe they take root and become the fruit of our experiences in the future. Buddhists refer to this as karma.If I plant seeds of love and compassion, love and compassion will be the fruit.Tomato seeds result in tomatoes as my teachers have said.
Considered by many to be the most vibrant painting style, vivid, dynamic, pointillism continues to fascinate me as an artist.As a spiritual warrior committed to bringing change through moment by moment awareness of the choices I make, it is this, the dots as seeds of intention planted into universal consciousness for the benefit of all beings that captures my imagination most fully and compels me to pursue pointillism.