I came across the Kaye quote last week, shortly after Ursula wrote,
To me he [Jackson Pollock] and his technique is a symbol of what we all do: Throwing paint pots at the canvas of our lives.
Do you agree with Kaye? I appreciate his enthusiasm, but I don’t think more paint is always better. Here’s what I wound up with when I randomly “threw paint on my canvas” with my splatter brushes in Photoshop:
It’s definitely colorful, but I wouldn’t like my life to look like that. I try not to get too scattered. I don’t want my life to be too narrow, but I also want my various activities to integrate with one another.
What about Ursula’s quote? Certainly Pollock thought about where he was throwing his paint. If his latest splatter messed up what he already had, he would just correct it. Have you ever messed things up by adding too much/the wrong thing? If so, was it easily corrected? What’s your life like right now? Are the various parts of it well integrated? Or do you have the urge to add or subtract something?
I am at that stage in my life when I look back and see that life has been colourful without my having to throw paint to add or to use turpentine to take some out. While I was going through the colours I just did not know how colourful it was, but in retrospect I can understand that there were brightness on occasion, dullness on others, neutral some times but basically, a series of collages unfolded. I now believe that that happened despite me.
I certainly would like to add a mate now to share in all my activities and experiences now, and subtract many useless ‘things’ that I have accumulated over the last forty plus years. The former will happen if it is meant to happen and the latter is a work in progress.
First I absolutely love your spatter brush Photoshop art. I’d get a classy but plain frame & hang that in a minute. I LOVE color. I hold myself back & I use conservative neutrals. Your picture would be the “centerpiece”.
My life is too much of everything but definitely not boring.
Rummuser,
As I’ve said before, I appreciate your sharing your adventures in life. It sounds as if some major changes are occurring.
bikehikebabe,
I’m glad you like it. It’s too busy for me, but it was a fun to see what happened if I just randomly threw paint. If you want I can send you a higher resolution picture that you can use as a screensaver. I just installed it on my computer to see how to do it. I may play around to see if I can make something I like better.
My dear Jean, who says that those pots of paints we throw at the canvas of our lives are all colourful? I know people who firmly stick to beige and/or magnolia.
You ask many a good question in this post. Have I messed up things? Oh, yes. Were they easily corrected? Oh, no. What’s my life right now? Depends what aspect of it we are looking at. Are the various parts of it well integrated? Nothing that a little bit of oiling or a squirt of WD40 can’t fix.
Do I have the urge to subtract or add something? You bet.
Earth colour greetings,
Ursula
if i believed in astrology… and i confess i do… not in the prediction sense. i don’t believe that. but the ‘patterns’ of certain signs is really amazingly on the mark for a lot of people. and myself included… from what i’ve read.
i’m a gemini. it’s like being two or more people in one. for awhile i crave color and can’t get enough. now i’m going back to my dearly loved white ~ creams ~ taupes ~ texture.
aaaggghhh! charlie brown!
and each time i change… yes. you guessed it. i can be heard to say “NOW! this is really me. this is what i truly like!” then it lasts for awhile. sometimes shorter sometimes longer.
your picture is amazing seeing how you did it on the computer!!! a little technicolor technical monk! LOL
Ursula,
I was assuming that Danny Kaye was thinking of something more colorful than beige, but who knows? There’s no way we can ask him. As for you and others, I was asking questions rather than assuming. I enjoy hearing about how you all look at life. Thanks for answering!
tammy,
I love your answer! Thanks. When I taught stress hardiness one of my sayings (always aimed at myself even more than at other people) was, “Don’t define yourself too narrowly.” And that’s what the real me feels at this particular point in time. 🙂
That paint throwing was fun to do. It gave me a chance to understand and play with the more complicated Photoshop brushes. And also to start creating my own. I’ve just about finished the graphics for next Sunday’s post and making a brush saved me a lot of time. There are a lot of other things in Photoshop that I’m sure would be useful, so it’s about time I learned some of them. It’s always exciting when I learn that I’ve been doing things the hard way. Oh, wow! You mean it’s that easy?
I love your painting… if it disturbs why not add some very skinny birch trees… limbs fade into what appears to be colorful foliage! Yes, I love Danny Kaye. It was hard hearing that he went through such great depressive episodes.
“Throw all the paint on it you can.” Might also mean to simply cover the canvas; leave no area of life untouched. We don’t need multi-colors to do that; beautiful creations can be readily found in monochromatic.
I’m in the middle of something but unsure what to call it. Mid-life crisis? acceptance of physical parameters? Mental-emotional purging of the past? To date this has affected my writing. I struggled to stay positive or present positive material and yet… more is often learned when the flip-side is given. So yes, the urge to add and subtract is alive and well here. (smile) Thanks Jean.
Dixie,
Actually the painting was supposed to be an example of what not to do — that more isn’t always better, that there’s a place in life for forethought and reflection. It didn’t quite turn out that way.
It was a good exercise in learning to use some of the fancier brushes in Photoshop.
I’m sorry about your fibro — it’s nasty stuff. My daughter has a mild case of it, but it doesn’t incapacitate her. It just makes life harder. Have you ever visited Cranky Fibro Gal? She has the opposite of your positive attitude, but she reminds me that we don’t have to be upbeat all of the time. (That said by a pessimistic positive thinker.) I also have How to Be Sick: A Buddhist-Inspired Guide for the Chronically Ill and Their Caregivers in my toolkit. I like to be prepared for contingencies!
Good luck.