ONE HOUR/ONE PAINTING

If you've never had the chance to experience one of my "One Hour/One Painting" sessions, here's a chance to do so online. I have been offering these sessions at museums and galleries--even private homes--for over twenty years now, and people generally love the experience. It's a blend of two ancient skills, meditation and contemplation, originally spiritual exercises, in which I introduce participants to the rudiments of those skills and then apply them as a way to spend a full hour looking at a single painting. (I even wrote a book about the process, "Slow Looking", which you can find online). I created it originally for myself, as a way to counter the dreadful and all-too familiar habit of spending more time with the wall label in a gallery than with the painting itself; as a way to look beyond my prejudices ("liking" this, "not liking" that) and see what's on the wall in front of me instead of what I think I see; and as a pleasant way to slow down from my usual hectic pace.

I offered this current session at Laguna Art Museum. The painting is one in a new series of clown paintings by (now 100-year-old!) Wayne Thiebaud. I'm not keen on the impression of myself that I create (no one likes looking at pictures of themselves!) but once you get past me and my blurb to the painting I think you'll find the experience worthwhile.