i've started a new painting i've had in mind for a few weeks. it's based on this picture I took at a family gathering. it was an outdoor party at my uncle's, during the first heatwave of the year. there's no one around for kilometers. the night had fallen and people were (a little) drunk. music was put on. the Pogues were requested. my uncle took my other uncle by the arm and they started dancing. they formed a farandole, singing the few english words they knew. and I happened to take a picture. it's blurry but you get the shape of the farandole and the colors of everyone's pale summer clothes.
my goal with the painting is not to recreate it, just to... remember the moment while painting.
that's how i've been treating art these days.
and it's funny because since I started painting again, I keep noticing visual moments I want to capture. a picture with a movement I find cool, a dream where the setup felt important. and they seem random, but each carries the same feeling-shape: "this is an important talisman you want to keep. make something out of it".
the simple fact that I have this new medium i can use makes me more aware of those moments
I get to appreciate shapes and colors and relationships and feelings in new dimensions. or rather, in a deeper dimension than I could reach before.
art making is talisman making after all