A Delayed Reaction

“Wetlands Dawn” Oil & Cold Wax on Panel, 24″ x 24″ ©Ruth Armitage, Available at Art Decked Out

Delayed reactions are certainly present in painting, too. My trip to Italy really brought home to me that painting is a way for me to react to the world. I can paint for pure pleasure, taking joy in the beauty of my surroundings and the physicality of the paint.

And I can also paint to express my inner reality, reacting to both emotion and paint to create something that becomes universal at its best, and personal at its least.

The two methods are different in mindset, but similar in problem solving. Both require that I choose a beautiful color palette, compose elements in relationship to the painting as a whole and to each other. But painting my inner reality also requires deep self-examination and symbolic thinking. It is definitely more challenging than painting what I see directly. It becomes more of a delayed reaction – a deeper reaction. That is why it becomes such an obsession, I suppose.

So it was a joy to simply paint my Italian experience simply and unselfconsciously this spring. I wasn’t teaching, no lessons to impart, nothing to worry about as far as shows… just the pure pleasure of creamy paint on canvas reacting to the beauty around me.

Now that I am home, there is a sort of delayed reaction – I’m reviewing my favorite moments, photos and memories. I’m studying some of the inspiring art I saw. And I’m trying to synthesize how it relates to my work and my life.

I took a quick trip to North Dakota this month to celebrate the life of my aunt, Rita Lucy. It was just as beautiful as Italy, but nowhere nearly as populated. And it was interesting comparing vacation notes with my sister. Her vacations tend to revolve around music and concerts, mine are geared more toward art. Neither of us have a strong foundation in traveling – we didn’t do much at all as a family when we were kids. Maybe that is why we both enjoy it so much now.