A quote from James Whistler

“A painting is not a record of what the eye sees. It is an arrangement of color, line, scale, and harmony in which the artist’s vision takes precedence over literal description.” This quote from James Whistler sums it up for me. Strict adherence to an exact reproduction is not what I try to achieve. Such paintings are beautiful, there is no doubt about that, however, that’s not for me. An impressionist approach allows me to extract the feelings and stir the emotions of a scene. I will be the first to say that I don’t have the ability to paint exact reproductions, but that’s not what I’m trying to achieve. I think there are many artists who consider themselves failures because they can’t paint an exact reproduction, say of a horse or maybe a mountain scene. To those I say, study Cezanne, Monet, Fedor Zakhorov, Renoir, Pizarro, and you will learn that it is the feeling, and not the fact of a scene that evokes an aesthetic response. And, as I have said before, follow your own artistic path, never feel inferior because you can’t paint in a classic manner. I recommend that one’s work should strive to stir the emotions and not reproduce the exact facts of a scene. The main thing is, no matter what, keep painting. Never throw in the towel.