Start Seeking: Find a Start, Dis-Cover Art

"Seek" by Jim Carpenter, Acyrlic on Crescent Illustration Board, 9 1/2 " x 6 1/2"

Seek and ye shall find!  It would seem that all of my time in the studio and in the creative process is pretty much "seeking" in order to find or to dis-cover.  First I have find an appropriate "start." Somedays I only create "starts" that will be put aside for future use.   But a start, which is a great warm up activity because you get to play as much as you want with the paint, is just a start and it can remain a start for a few days or a few weeks or months or even years.  For my first painting of the challenge I selected one of several starts on crescent illustration board.  Better now than never.

The Start for "Seek"

I'm into "not knowing," so, there is no such thing as a detailed concept when I begin. I create some chaos on the paper and then seek out the painting.  I do have some trusted guides to help me though the journey.  For the most part, I work with the same pigments and generally stick to a limited palette using a red, a blue and a yellow, and several opaque whites.  I also have a favorite violet that I use occasionally and some metallics.

But it really is this process of just put paint down, making marks, stirring things up and then looking for the images to emerge from the chaos that challenges and juices me.  I am always amazed at where the paint leads me and know that if I had tried to imagine the painting before hand that I would never have imagined what I end up with.

The quest for knowledge, for guidance, for wisdom, for any worthwhile goal is as old - and as new - as mankind.  We are all about seeking.  And now I wonder if this painting - which I've titled "Seek" emerged for the express purpose of reminding me that we are all seeking something, looking for the clues, looking for the blessings, asking for guidance to help us un-cover something regarding the mystery that surrounds us.