(This is an article I wrote for "The Black Cat Press" on the 26th of July 2015)
"The Source of Creativity?"
Published by Guest Contributor on July 26, 2015
Almost as mysterious as life itself is identifying the source of creativity. Is there a source? Or is creativity similar to light and the air we breathe in that it is omnipresent, each of us focusing our intent to receive the specific creative vibration that will suit the moment – much like the tuner knob on a radio?
All of my life I have been a doer, a builder, a creative individual. I have danced. I have designed everything from fashion to furnishings. I have written many types of projects. I have done all of these creative expressions without having given much thought to the process. Then, in July 2009, I finally faced my “some day” mantra. I had said I was doing everything else first so that some day I could paint. Some day is NOT a day of the week.
I have painted in the past….before July 2009. When I was 15 years old I decided I wanted to be an artist. My parents bought me a basic oil painting set with basic colors and basic brushes. I had no idea what I was doing or even how to paint with oil paints. If you were to see my first oil painting you would see that the paint was troweled on and instead of brushing details in, I carved and moved the paints around with the ends of the brushes. It is all VERY primitive. I have no idea where the idea for my subject came from or why I painted the young boy wearing a blue suit and cap. What I do remember is that I absolutely wanted there to be no doubt in anyone’s mind that I was painting a street scene in Paris, France, so I painted a crude representation of the Eiffel Tower in the background.
Published by Guest Contributor on July 26, 2015
Almost as mysterious as life itself is identifying the source of creativity. Is there a source? Or is creativity similar to light and the air we breathe in that it is omnipresent, each of us focusing our intent to receive the specific creative vibration that will suit the moment – much like the tuner knob on a radio?
All of my life I have been a doer, a builder, a creative individual. I have danced. I have designed everything from fashion to furnishings. I have written many types of projects. I have done all of these creative expressions without having given much thought to the process. Then, in July 2009, I finally faced my “some day” mantra. I had said I was doing everything else first so that some day I could paint. Some day is NOT a day of the week.
I have painted in the past….before July 2009. When I was 15 years old I decided I wanted to be an artist. My parents bought me a basic oil painting set with basic colors and basic brushes. I had no idea what I was doing or even how to paint with oil paints. If you were to see my first oil painting you would see that the paint was troweled on and instead of brushing details in, I carved and moved the paints around with the ends of the brushes. It is all VERY primitive. I have no idea where the idea for my subject came from or why I painted the young boy wearing a blue suit and cap. What I do remember is that I absolutely wanted there to be no doubt in anyone’s mind that I was painting a street scene in Paris, France, so I painted a crude representation of the Eiffel Tower in the background.
"The Parisian Boy"
I did have two semesters of oil painting in college and one semester of the chemistry of oils. I was fortunate to have had both classes taught by someone with some sense of notoriety among American artists – Alexander Hogue. He had been brought out of retirement to teach for a few years. He was more concerned that our paintings would last 500 years rather than teach us any techniques. It was yet one more disappointing educational experience in my life.
Fast forward to Los Angeles in the summer of 2000. I visited a Spiritualist church a few times with some friends. After a few Sundays of attending, a visiting Spiritualist minister from London, England met with me after the service. She informed me that every Sunday I had been there she had seen the same young man standing behind me, dressed in yachting attire, but from the 1900’s. She went on to tell me that there were two other men she always saw standing close by. She described all three and they were the same ones 8 different Spiritualists and Sensitives have seen around me throughout my life….including one very famous Spiritualist/Psychic (Clifford Bias) who counseled FDR and his wife, Eleanor, during his years as president, at the White House.
The Spiritualist minister further informed me that the individual dressed in the yachting attire was from a past life in pre-World War I Paris and that friends from that lifetime who were artists wanted to “paint again through me as their channel.” She told me that the friend in the yachting attire was the primary artist wanting to paint and that I should wear the color purple to be more in harmony with his energies. She also said, “There will be more, in addition to him.”
I never have to think about what I am going to paint. I have already been given a very long list of subjects. I rarely know ahead of time how I am going to paint my next painting. I am shown and told during the process. I always know when a painting is finished. I feel it and am told, “It’s finished….don’t do anything further.” By nature I am empathetic and I do sense different energies wherever I go. I have been painting long enough to feel three distinct energies when I paint. There is one for painting the Impressionist and Fauvist paintings.
Fast forward to Los Angeles in the summer of 2000. I visited a Spiritualist church a few times with some friends. After a few Sundays of attending, a visiting Spiritualist minister from London, England met with me after the service. She informed me that every Sunday I had been there she had seen the same young man standing behind me, dressed in yachting attire, but from the 1900’s. She went on to tell me that there were two other men she always saw standing close by. She described all three and they were the same ones 8 different Spiritualists and Sensitives have seen around me throughout my life….including one very famous Spiritualist/Psychic (Clifford Bias) who counseled FDR and his wife, Eleanor, during his years as president, at the White House.
The Spiritualist minister further informed me that the individual dressed in the yachting attire was from a past life in pre-World War I Paris and that friends from that lifetime who were artists wanted to “paint again through me as their channel.” She told me that the friend in the yachting attire was the primary artist wanting to paint and that I should wear the color purple to be more in harmony with his energies. She also said, “There will be more, in addition to him.”
I never have to think about what I am going to paint. I have already been given a very long list of subjects. I rarely know ahead of time how I am going to paint my next painting. I am shown and told during the process. I always know when a painting is finished. I feel it and am told, “It’s finished….don’t do anything further.” By nature I am empathetic and I do sense different energies wherever I go. I have been painting long enough to feel three distinct energies when I paint. There is one for painting the Impressionist and Fauvist paintings.
"Adobe Sanctuary"
There is one for painting the Realism paintings.
"Shadows and Lace"
And the same energy that is around me when I paint the Surrealist paintings – like my painting of St. Francis, “Brother Sun”,
"Brother Sun"
is the same energy around me when I paint the floral paintings in the Fioretti Collection.
"Where Two or More are Gathered"
With this being my experience as a short-term painter, it seems even more difficult for me to come to any definitive answer to the question, “What is the source of creativity?” Oh, and yes, I do wear the color purple when I paint. Want to see more of my work? Here is the link to my website and click on the “Collections” drop-down menu www.dvbpaintings.com
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