"I am not one who was born in the custody of wisdom. I am one who is fond of olden times and intense in quest of the sacred knowing of the ancients." Gustave Courbet

30 May 2011

Beholding.


I have tried to be both meteorological and philosophical about the sky, but I constantly find its spiritual qualities outweighing its weather influences.


I believe that the sky was created for pure beholding; that one of man's greatest pleasures can be simply looking at the sky. Living with the skies and knowing what they were up to was once one of the joys of living.


If different qualities of air had different colors, the sky could look like the writhing flow of colored lights in those old-fashioned juke boxes, never quiet, always mixing.


Quiet seemed in tune with the wind that haunted the high places like a hymn, and I felt as though I constantly walked in an atmospheric cathedral. The provocative landscape and overwhelming skyscapes stirred my emotion into a spiritual experience and wherever I looked there was a meaningful picture to be painted.


It was there and then I decided to make painting my life work and to make the sky my theme.

- Eric Sloane

Sloane's site is here.

Masterpieces abound.

No comments: