Beauty of the Everyday

Nightscape. Oil on stretched canvas, 8x10

Ann Stewart and I were working out this morning when she said, "This would be fun if it weren't so boring."

We laughed - everyone did - but it got me thinking about painting. "This would be boring if it weren't so much fun," I thought.

People ask why I paint every day, and there are lots of reasons. One is that 20 years of newspapering accustomed me to daily deadlines and daily production.

Another is that I am still a new painter, working on my skills, and I need the daily onslaught of experiment, of gamble, of reaching, of daring failure, of beckoning success.

Still another is that I like the work of painting every day. I like that it takes this creative thing a little out of the realm of creativity and places it a little more in the realm of craftsmanship.

I am not trying to make political statements with my painting. I'm not trying to summon centuries of muses, or measure my work against DaVinci's, or travel to the cutting edge of contemporary American art. I am simply trying to make paintings that capture and transmit a feeling, and delight the eye and heart.

At my best, I think, my paintings are about finding the beauty and importance of the every day.

And so, I paint, every day.