02/12/2022
Pink Mountains, Scouring Powder, and Starry Nights
I noticed the other day that all the mountains
in the paintings I own were pink. Am I attracted to pink mountains? Or do many artists paint their mountains pink? Here in north central Wisconsin I am too far away from mountains to do my own research.
Many mountains are made of granite. Granite consists mainly of quartz (the clear white part), hornblende (the black part), and feldspar which can be many colors but is often pink.
As an aside, feldspar is the most abundant mineral on earth. It's used as the abrasive in at least one scouring powder. The next time you're scrubbing your sink it may be with powdered rocks.
No two of us are ever going to see things the same way. Perhaps great art is brought about by not only seeing a little differently, but be being daring enough to paint, write, or compose that very thing we see or hear. When I see Van Gogh's Starry Night, I think of fireworks against that dark blue sky. I'm sure others of his time (and ours) couldn't or weren't willing to see the fireworks. Afraid to stray from what's accepted. The legions of us who color within the lines, never stray from the path and keep ourselves locked within, afraid, will never paint pink mountains or fireworks in the night sky. We'll stay at home content to scrub our sinks with the dust of mountains. Just once see a thing as it really is--to only you--and follow where it takes you. You never know until you put hand to brush, or clay, or loom, what may spring from your heart.
