Tuesday, January 24, 2012


The Love Of Painting  By Jill Saur

Painting, butterflies on canvas
©1990-2012 Butterfly Painting by Jill Saur, all rights reserved
I love picking up a blank white canvas.  I love contemplating the possibilities of what will emerge when I let myself go.

I love the musing of which brush I will select, or which brush will select me.  My brushes are like old friends with whom I am very familiar, yet I still find delight in what they are capable of doing.

I love picking up my palette knife. It is the instrument that will facilitate the mixing and dividing of hue, as well as the application of rich, dramatic texture that will bring my paintings to life.

I love opening the jars of paint, to be reminded of how their hues have deeply affected my life. The vivid blues speak of my first bicycle, and the shimmering waters of the ocean at dawn.  Painful or pleasing, color is deeply interwoven into every synapse of my being.

I love the way the first strokes of paint glide across the canvas, and I love the way I can feel the texture of that canvas through the vibrations in my brush.

I love stepping back to become an observer, and waiting until the painting reveals what it needs before I proceed.

I love when light and shadow and form begin to emerge from the canvas, and take on a life of their own.

I love what painting teaches me about life, and I love what life teaches me about painting.  I love that I can paint what I feel, and I especially love how I feel when I paint.

I love that the painting experience lightens pain, and gives wings of flight to fettered human limitations.

I love the way painting causes me to look to a source greater than myself for inspiration and guidance.  And, when I get to the end of a painting, I love that I know when I’ve made that final stroke that enables me to say, “It is finished”.

I love knowing that although I cannot sing with my voice, my paintings are like a song that will resonate through the years, even after I’m gone.  - Jill Saur 2010