A reader asks Matt if there is any update on his “Painting of 08/09.”

Matt responds:

The “Painting of 08/09” is still baffling me.  Sometimes I take on a project, and five years later it’s still bothering me.  Then alll of a sudden it seems to come together.

It is probably like a soft, simmering stew, where you can’t turn the heat up and make it better; sometimes it needs a long gestation.

There have been times when I’ve walked into my studio with this particular painting on my mind, and I think:  Is this going to be the day I start it?  But so far I’ve found an excuse not to start—because the hardest part of any journey, for me, is the first step, not the last.

One step leads to another to another.  I remember hearing that one of the great artists of the Renaissance never liked to encounter a blank canvas, so they would throw a colored cloth at the canvas, which gave them something to start from.  To me, it’s a gift of the spirit.

Awhile back there was a friend of mine who came into my studio with an astute, knowledgedable person, and we stood for ten minutes and discussed the art.  He was a Roman Catholic priest, and he had a unique crucifix on his lapel.I said to him toward the end of our visit, “I’m going to do a piece about our conversation.”

As soon as he walked out, within ten minutes, it was done.  I allowed it to sit for awhile, and I added to it, and then added to it again, and when his friend came back and said the man had gone back to where he was from, I said, “I have a painting for him, and I’m going to send it to him.”

So some things are extremely apparent to me, almost like a Polaroid picture in my head; and other things remain a mystery.

The Painting of 08/09 has still not taken any concrete first step.  And it continues to haunt me.  But then, I have a lot of things like that in my crazy brain.

Maybe somebody should box my ears, and something will fall out of my nose!  Until then, I’ll keep trying.

Thanks for your interest,
Matt