Well the holidays have come and gone in a whirlwind of activities and family visits. That is where I’ve been if anyone wondered. Of course, our creativity does not stop for Christmas morning or dinner with the parents. Our brain keeps on rattling away and we’re constantly being inspired by the things that surround us. This along with snowy days, wrapped in the warmth of the wood stove heated house, leave an almost overwhelming desire to express ones self. And now that the world around is hunkered down to stay safe and warm through the winter storms it is the perfect time. However, I’m not going to dazzle you with my latest painting. It’s not finished. I have been thinking a lot about story; about how one forms it and relays it. So I thought i would re-post one of my earliest posts where I shared a few thoughts I have about story. I want to add to the suggestions I make below as well. I recently watched The Legend Of 1900 starring Tim Roth, which is a fabulous movie, one of my favorites. The way this story weaves together is , I think, one of the most beautiful out there. Also, every other part, technical and artistic, hit the right notes too.
"Falstaff" A small painting I did a few years back.
Story
Everyone Has A Story To Tell
I am fascinated by story. I mean really fascinated. First of all everyone has one. Whatever you think about your own story, you have one. There are stories that are made up or influenced and changed by someone or something. And then there is perception. Everyone brings there own stories to collide with others and it influences how they perceive the story they just collided with. Stories can be spoken, they can be written , or my case they can be drawn. Stories can simply be experienced. There is HIStory and fiction. There is Historical Fiction. (Which some might say is closer to the truth.)
You could almost say that “life” is the story. Most stories participate in a reality that we understand. With a few very fantastic exceptions. One of my favorites is the Jabberwocky by Lewis Carroll. Although you could argue that even the Jabberwocky exsists in a reality that we can understand. One of life and death, gravity and air. A world of morals and consequences. There is sense even among the nonsense. There is a movie that came out about a year ago that tells a story about stories. If you are a fan of stories then you should look into it. I think most people probably watched it and took its face value. And it’s face value was plenty good. But there is more there. I recommend that if at all possible you watch it with the director commentaries running. Anyway, it is called “Atonement”, directed by Joe Wright, who is I think a genius storyteller. As an aside, it also stars James McAvoy who is also a brilliant storyteller. This one story delves into various forms of story with in its own. ( It is a little heavy though, so be forewarned.)
Story As Expression
I live my own story but I also use story to express myself. I choose art as my form of storytelling. When I was in college I was surrounded by fellow students who were dying to tell there story in a more dramatic way. They wanted to show angst and aggression. They had a need to shock and awe people with their stories. And I could never get into that. I have always felt a need to express beauty. To use my stories to encourage or uplift or simply beautify. I worked in animation for several years and was asked once if I thought that the work I was doing was worthwhile. My response was, “Yes, of course”. It may not have changed the world in a dramatic way, but I always felt that I was bring joy to someone somewhere, who might be watching the story I helped create. And now I paint horses. And I feel the same way about it. This is my expression of the story I see and live. Horses are a part of my story and so is art. It seems like a natural conclusion.
I’m Not Trying To Be Deep Or Anything
I’m really not. I just think its neat to think about these things that pervade our lives quietly. Things that a lot of people don’t really give the time of day thinking about. Things that make life more interesting if you just give them the time to influence you. I think it is the loss of that childlike imagination that makes adults so unhappy. I mean what kid doesn’t love a bedtime story or sitting on grandpa’s lap to hear stories of the “old days”. So I guess I’m still a kid. Except now I like my stories in a lot more variety. I love going to museums with a young friend of mine. We’ll sit in font of a painting and I’ll ask her, “What do you see?”, and she’ll proceed to look, I mean really look, for all of the things that the storyteller has left for us to see. And then I ask her to tell me the story of that painting. Sometimes I see something a little different, but the point is, there is a story there, just waiting for someone to come and just spend a little time with it for it to come to life. It drives me a little crazy when people just walk through a gallery or a museum and don’t really give the work the true time of day. I know you can’t do that for every single painting. You’d be there for hours, but you should be able to pick out a least a few stories that interest you. And I’m not talking about being all deep and metaphysical or anything like that. I’m just talking about simple story.
For example, there is a painting of a woman on a hill. Many people say, “How nice a woman on the hill, isn’t that pretty.” I say, “Why is that woman on the hill?” and all of a sudden you’ve got a story.
Anyway, speaking of stories I think I’m writing an epic. That’s enough for now. Thanks for listening. Cheers!
Tags:Atonement,great-movies,story,The-Legend-Of-1900,Tim-Roth
