Notes on my process

When I was a student, my favorite artists were Charles White, Henry O, Tanner, Thomas Eakins, DaVinci, Goya, Van Gogh to name a few. Each one taught me a specific lesson. This reworking any part or all of a piece deals a lots with Tanner and Eakins. I am sure that everyone knows that Tanner before he was force to move to France, had been fortunate enough to study with the great American Artist and teacher, Thomas Eakins.

Legend has it that in one class as Tanner was working on one of his paintings, Eakins strolled by stopped and pointed to a particular section indicating that it was very successful and showed great promise. Tanner for weeks never touched that section again. The next time that Eakins visited Tanner's painting, He was very angry that Tanner had not touched that section again, and simply stated "Make it better or make it worse." There is no middle ground.

When I look at one of my incomplete pieces, that is the thing that pops into my head. Most of the time I will revisit that piece. This was also the response that John Coltrane gave that connects back to Tanner and Eakins. When Trane was asked why he played "These Are A few of favorite things" sometime thirty minutes and the next time for ten minutes, he just stated "I play it until I get it all out." Peace in art.