Kathy’s thoughts: I am not a painter. And, although I do find the visual arts beautiful and moving, I have no comprehension of how the works are conceived or executed. I certainly have not the patience to sit and paint, slowly, until the vision has been created. One can ask the artist how it happens, but to little avail.
The artist, at least my artist, Ron Harris, does not know how to articulate his process. He tells me he can say it but he cannot write it. Hence, I listen, and this is what I hear: A few days ago, Ron painted extensively, nearly uninterrupted for two days. A thing that rarely occurs in our busy, big house owning, teenager raising, state of existence at the moment. So after this amazing bout of creativity, Ron announced that he was finished and could do no more for the day. In the evening, I try to come down to the basement studio to see the progress being made, take some photos for the next social media posting, listen to music and talk to Ron. After he had washed his brushes, we decided to watch our present favorite TV show via On Demand. After watching an extremely graphic and emotional episode, Ron says to me, “I see the characters and I feel that I can paint their faces, every highlight on the noses, every expression on their faces. It is as if the brush strokes come to me as I watch the story unfold.” I see. As an actor and a dancer, I understand the story from an emotional intension translated into words by a trained body who wants to create drama by expression. As a dancer, I want to interpret the story or the feeling with movement. So it appears that, to the visual artist, every brush stroke is a comment, every different color, an emotion. All shading is a mood change. And now we know. Happy face. – Kathy
