Art & Writing by J. Garst

The ART

Each painting is born from a spark, a thought, an idea, or an experiment. They do not typically come to me fully formed but through a discourse with the painting as I shape it. I have never been able to see the end from the beginning. I have never been able to visualize things in my mind, only in words and thoughts.

Like choosing a book by the cover, I can see only the beginning. The starting point. A painting may begin with a texture, a color combination, a tool, an object, a transition, or a contrast. Each painting is created from a million choices, experiments, moments of elation or despair, and sparks of playfulness or apathy. What happens if I try to create a gradient with orange and blue, or what effect will I get if I apply the paste with this tool, or I wonder what will happen if I add a transparent layer of brown over the pink? There are millions of decisions and layers that the viewer will never see.

Beneath the veneer of ‘finished’ is more than one almost painting. A piece of art that didn’t quite have the right feel, say the right words, or have the sense of story captured in its textures, colors, and shapes that I wanted. Each painting is a story told with rocks, fabric, sticks, paste, lace, and layers of paint.