What’s Your Focus?

Do your ideals compete with the images you see? A preconceived notion is what makes us humans so unforgivably opinionated. Try and describe this painting in your own mind without associating the work with the million things you’ve seen or thought about in your life to date. You’ll discover it’s an impossible task. 

Objective and subjective thinking. We lose those uncluttered interpretive skills very quickly as we leave the innocence of our childhood.  Through our five senses, the mind fills up rapidly with all kinds of productive and unproductive thoughts. Our minds cannot express two thoughts simultaneously. A cluttered mind simply becomes overwhelmed.

It’s difficult to say what my original intention was for this painting, which so often is the case. The canvas, the oil paint, and me created a trifecta of sorts. I always feel obligated to explain what the painting is or should represent to the viewer. This time, I’m going to leave it up to interpretation. 

As simple and as subtle as this work of art is, there’s a lot of direction for the mind to take. But if at all possible, try and not associate it with anything you’ve seen or thought about throughout your life. Be like the innocence of a child and just let uncluttered thinking be your guide.

“I look at art to see, not what I already know, but to discover what I didn’t know.”

 

Rod Jones Artist-Writer