Looking, Thinking & Living

December 9, 2024


When we think about painting, our minds often go straight to the act itself: the brushstrokes, the colors, the canvas. But if you dig a little deeper, you’ll realize that painting is much more than just applying pigment to surface. It’s a process of looking, seeing, thinking, and living — an intricate dance between observation, reflection, and creation. These layers of experience and interpretation work together to bring a painting to life.

Art of Looking

The first step in painting is simple: looking. But it's not just a casual glance at the world around you. It’s an intentional and active way of observing. Artists spend a great deal of time studying their subjects before they ever touch a brush. Whether it’s a landscape, a still life, or a portrait, looking means noticing details that others might miss — the play of light on a surface, the subtle shifts in color, the relationship between objects in space.

This stage is not just about seeing with your eyes but opening yourself up to the world through your senses. A skilled painter doesn't just look at a bowl of fruit; they study how the light curves around its form, how the shadows stretch across its surface, and how the colors interact in unexpected ways. Every detail matters. The depth of a subject reveals itself in layers that are built over time, through practice and patience.

Power of Seeing

But seeing is more than just looking. It’s about interpreting the information you've gathered. This is where the transformation happens. Once you’ve observed your subject carefully, you begin to filter what you've seen through your own unique lens. You translate the raw data into something meaningful — shapes, colors, emotions, textures.

This is where the artist’s personal vision and experience come into play. A landscape painted by one artist might feel serene, while another might convey tension or drama, even if the subjects are the same. Seeing allows the artist to infuse their work with meaning, to see beyond what is in front of them and express something deeper.

Take, for example, the way an abstract artist might interpret a scene. While one might focus on the energy and movement of shapes, another might highlight stillness or harmony. The act of seeing, therefore, is as much about the mind as it is about the eyes.

Role of Thinking

Thinking in painting is often undervalued. It’s easy to imagine that painting is purely instinctive or a product of "gut feeling." But good painting involves deep intellectual engagement. It’s about making decisions — what to include, what to leave out, how to arrange elements in space, and what emotional tone to convey. The thinking process involves reflecting on your own emotional response to the subject, as well as considering historical, cultural, or artistic contexts.

The strategic aspect of thinking comes into play when deciding on composition, color palettes, and technique. It’s about balancing visual harmony with dynamic energy. Each choice you make impacts the overall effect of the painting, and often, the most significant decisions happen on an emotional or subconscious level, driven by years of experience and an intuitive understanding of what works.

Moreover, thinking about your work doesn't stop once the brush hits the canvas. Many artists have told stories of hours spent staring at their paintings, contemplating what’s working and what’s not, rethinking and adjusting their approach. Painting requires constant problem-solving — identifying and resolving challenges that arise during the creation process.

Living the Painting

Finally, there is the aspect of living. As an artist, you're not just working from a place of theoretical knowledge or technical skill — you're drawing from your own lived experience. What you've seen, felt, learned, and experienced all feed into your painting. Your life influences the art you create, often in ways that aren’t immediately obvious.

A painting is more than just a reflection of what the artist sees; it’s also a reflection of who they are. An artist's emotional state, their thoughts, and the events they’ve experienced color the work in ways that even the artist may not fully understand. For instance, the melancholy of a personal loss may find its way into the subdued colors and shapes of a portrait. Or, a joyfully chaotic experience might translate into energetic, vibrant brushstrokes on a canvas.

In this sense, every painting carries a part of the artist’s life within it, shaping its final form. And this is part of the magic of art — it’s not just a snapshot of the world; it's a snapshot of the artist’s inner world at a particular moment in time. It’s a conversation between the external and internal, the seen and the felt.

The Common Thread

When you combine looking, seeing, thinking, and living, you get something truly special. The creative process is not linear, and it’s not confined to the act of painting alone. These elements intertwine in dynamic ways. Looking becomes seeing, seeing becomes thinking, and thinking becomes a way of living the work as it evolves.

Every time an artist approaches a canvas, they're not just making something to be seen — they’re expressing something far more complex. It’s a process of discovery, of asking questions, of grappling with feelings, and of learning from both failures and successes.

This is why painting, and art in general, is so much more than just the finished piece. It’s a journey, a conversation between the artist and their medium, between the artist and the world, and, ultimately, between the artist and themselves. It’s a dance of perception, intellect, and emotion.

Next time you stand before a painting, don’t just look at it — look into it. Understand that there’s a whole world of seeing, thinking, and living behind every brushstroke. Every piece of art tells a story not just about the subject it portrays, but about the life and mind of the artist who created it. And that, truly, is the beauty of painting — it’s never just about painting. It’s about everything that goes into it.