Transference: Eight Months of Daily Skies 2012-2013
oil on canvas, graphite, clips, pins
In a letter to his brothers, written on December 22, 1817, John Keats explained a theory he termed Negative Capability: “I mean Negative Capability, that is, when a man is capable of being in uncertainties, mysteries, doubts, without any irritable reaching after fact and reason”. Keats was speaking about the artist when he spoke of Negative Capability-the artists ability to let go of the self and be completely absorbed by his inspiration, by his subject, by beauty. As he put it, “Beauty overcomes every other consideration, or rather obliterates all consideration”. If we can possess negative capability, if we can be open enough to the world around us, beauty can take over and we can experience momentarily the transcendent.
I am working to possess negative capability through the act of painting the sky every day. I take the time to look upward and see, stepping away from aimless movement through my life. I carefully watch the heavens; watch the subtle movements of light and cloud outside of my studio. I see where the light that can illuminate so much beauty for me originates. By creating a structure for myself, a daily ritual of seeing, I have begun to push away the fog that can cloud my vision.