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Media: Oil
Size: 5x7 in
The lemons from our tree are round, not oval with pointy ends like we
think of when we think of lemons. I've never looked into why this is but
no matter. I think our round lemons are delicious and beautiful. So a
few months ago Benjamin Bjorklund
was in my studio teaching painting. One night when he was demo-painting
a portrait, he put an arguably random stroke of color on a corner of
the canvas. A person asked him, "Why did you put that random stroke of
color on the corner of your painting?" To which he said after a pause:
"Ummm ... I like the painting with that stroke and color there than
without." That response impacted me so much. Sometimes there seems to be
questions about significance and meaning in art. I sometimes get a bit
flustered when I encounter such questions and when I do, I try my best
to answer the way Benjamin did, which when I think about it, is really
the complete truth: "I like the painting with that stroke and color
there than without." The response and practice are things that I
inherited by painting with Benjamin -- one of the most extraordinary
modern painters today, I believe.
The lemons from our tree are round, not oval with pointy ends like we
think of when we think of lemons. I've never looked into why this is but
no matter. I think our round lemons are delicious and beautiful. So a
few months ago Benjamin Bjorklund
was in my studio teaching painting. One night when he was demo-painting
a portrait, he put an arguably random stroke of color on a corner of
the canvas. A person asked him, "Why did you put that random stroke of
color on the corner of your painting?" To which he said after a pause:
"Ummm ... I like the painting with that stroke and color there than
without." That response impacted me so much. Sometimes there seems to be
questions about significance and meaning in art. I sometimes get a bit
flustered when I encounter such questions and when I do, I try my best
to answer the way Benjamin did, which when I think about it, is really
the complete truth: "I like the painting with that stroke and color
there than without." The response and practice are things that I
inherited by painting with Benjamin -- one of the most extraordinary
modern painters today, I believe.
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