Feedom of Expression

Freedom of Expression

I was so bummed out over Running Eagle Falls I got a canvas and just let her rip with no destination in mind. Funny thing is, I love it! Freedom truly was my inspiration. It really felt good to do.

©Kinsey Barnard

Running Eagle Falls

Running Eagle Falls

It was bound to happen, a gawd awful painting. My deepest apologies to Running Eagle a great Blackfeet warrior princes. This painting goes in the "What was I thinking" column.

Running Eagle Falls is one of my favorite places to go in Glacier Park. Over the years I have tried to photograph it but for some reason I've not been able to get anything that does it justice.You can check out a couple of my photographic efforts as well as the legend of Running Eagle on my adventure blog.

Anyway, I had this idea I wanted to paint my version of it and this is what happened. It's pretty gawdy as well as gawd awful.

I'm starting to come to the conclusion that larger canvases may be easier to paint. Detail work is tough in small spaces. The good news is, I continue to learn things and have had little "ah ha" moments. But, I'll need a lot more.

©Kinsey Barnard

Crossroads

Crossroads

I gotta really laugh at this one. I went way off the reservation. I guess I have to put this in the abstract category, maybe primitive abstract it's kinda mixed up. A lot like my imagination.

I actually had an idea of what I wanted to paint. But then I was interrupted by company for a few days and my ADD must have kicked in. By the time I got back to painting I had totally forgotten what I was thinking of and just started splattering paint on the board. I had no destination in mind which should be fairly apparent.

It looks like something that should have been painted for Easter eggs. I had no choice but to name it Crossroads as that's the only identifiable thing in it. Identifiable to me at least. Imagination is a wonderful thing, mixed up or not!

©Kinsey Barnard

I Just Learned What I Already Knew

I've just had an epiphany. Strange as it may sound, I just learned what I believe I already knew. When it comes to art I am not interested in painting what I see outside myself. I am far more interested in what I see inside myself.

It was right in front of my face, within my photography. My stated objective with my camera was to paint with it. Not using Photoshop but capturing Nature in those naturally rare moments when she reveals just what an artist She is.  Images that, to my eye, were Nature's most unusual and unique works of art. Things that so few people ever notice. I found many, but, to my never ending frustration very few seemed to appreciate Nature's abstract expressions.  People have made a great fuss over images that, to me, are little more than pretty pictures whilst ignoring what I thought was the most incredible art I have ever seen. Images like Ice Puppets is not my art. It's nature's art. I was nothing more than the conduit. The two images below illustrate what I mean.

Tobacco River in Autumn

Above is a very pretty photo that has been popular amongst my photography fans. I don't mean to be glib but to me its just a pretty picture, a suitable model for a landscape painter. Below is an image that lights my fire 10,000 candles. It's just the kind of thing I would like to paint.

Ice Puppets

Although, if I were to flip the Tobacco River photo upside down and crop everything out but the reflection I might have something that would have appeal. But then, who needs to paint it? Nature already did.

Nature paints the water.

It's dawning on me that there may have been a reason for me to be able to see and photograph subjects such as Ice Puppets. To me that image was an opportunity to look inside Nature's imagination. How often does one have the opportunity to do that?

It's clear. I am not drawn to realism when it comes to art. Over the past 14 years, in Montana, I have spent thousands of hours and hiked thousands of miles with a near obsession to photograph the unique and imaginative within Nature. I have never known why. Perhaps this sudden interest in painting is not a new beginning but the continuation of a journey already begun. Just the thought of it excites me no end. I am such a loon.

I believe every cloud has a silver lining. In my case the silver lining is realizing nothing really matters in the grand scheme of things. That's why I'm going to enjoy painting. It just doesn't matter what I paint as long as I enjoy myself doing it. If I stop enjoying it I'll stop doing it. It doesn't matter. I stopped taking myself too seriously long ago.

©Kinsey Barnard