Painting New Orleans Blog

Hi Everyone,

My older sister is a classically trained singer and when she was 12, she had her first voice lesson with our neighbor (who just happened to be a professional singer).  Although my sister had a good voice, she was extremely self-conscious and at first she could barely manage to squeak out the words of her song.  The teacher tried several different approaches and finally told her to just imitate an opera singer. And that was all it took – the inhibition went away and out came a big, confident sound.  It wasn't technically perfect but it was a thousand times better than the initial squeaking.  In other words by “letting her rip” she could get much closer to being able to do what a real singer does.

There are moments in my evolution as a painter when I have tried to do something unfamiliar, taken a risk or stuck my neck out. To my surprise----it feels invigorating!  In those moments I am working at the outer edge of my ability, like rock-climbing without a safety harness, using only my momentum to carry me forward. 

With my current paintings of oak trees at sunset I am trying to be more spontaneous and loose.  I want them to have the energy that I see in paintings by the Abstract Expressionists.  I am working more from my own imagination and relying less on the photograph--- trying to push the chromatic intensity as far as it will go.  Sometimes I even force myself to sing as loud as I can while I am painting, to rid myself of inhibitions, hoping that my neighbors can’t hear me. 

Are there times in your life where you have to work at the peak of your abilities, being laser focused on a task and achieving things you didn’t think you could?  If you have enough excitement, enough drive, can you get yourself into a state where you accomplish things beyond what you think is your capability?

Here are two paintings where I pushed myself; I hope you are as surprised by them as I am.

Here are the two paintings side by side.

"Live Oak by the Lagoon" 30" x 40" $1250

"Dueling Oak Reaching Up" 30" x 40" $1250

Thanks For Reading!

Adam K. Hall