Sitting and sipping coffee at Jake's Bagel Shop, an art enthusiast strolls up and begins telling George and I about his latest acquisition. Bill, our collector friend, showed us some pictures of floral paintings - stating that he hates floral paintings. He said they are boring. George and I listened as Bill went on about florals. Now, you need to know Bill has a very respectable art collection. He knows art and he has an eye for what makes him like what he likes.
After all his lecturing about florals he shows us his latest two acquisitions - two florals. George smiled and said it isn't what one paints rather it is how one paints. Bill looked beyond the subject to how the artist used the subject. Flowers, to show light and how the artist felt about art itself. This artist made Bill look beyond the flowers to see something that lifted his spirits. He not only bought two florals, but had the gallery put his name on their mailing list to be alerted for when more of this artists work comes in.
Though Bill and this artist have never met in person, through her art the two have made a connection . Art is about connections. How we paint a subject, portray a subject, is our language for reaching out to like minded spirits. To make these connections we make a thousand little decisions; which blue will cool the green leaf of a rose, which brush will leave that perfect stroke and where to begin and end that stroke? Lost and found edges to soften a cheek, a highlight to bring a viewer to a sparkling eye. Which colors to mix together with just the right touch, repeated a thousand times telling a story unseen and unheard till just the right person interprets the strokes and bits of colors? Bill read the story held by the flowers and added those two stories to his collection.
