Seamus
Berkeley

The question people most frequently ask about any of my paintings is, “How long did it take you to do that”? This video is a partial answer to that question.

When you go to a museum or a gallery, or when you stop into my studio or you see an image of my work online, it is not apparent all that is required beforehand in order to bring it into the world. It is not just applying paint to a canvas—it’s setting up the paints on the palette, preparing the canvas and arranging it on the easel, acquiring all the necessary materials, composing a still life or going to a location or taking reference photographs, the ongoing paying attention to what might make a good painting and the knowledge and the information acquired over time of how to do all this.

For me, it’s also constructing the support for the piece and, very often, to constructing the frame as well.

So, yes, there’s a painting and it’s done, where you can see it hanging on a wall somewhere, maybe in your home, as if by magic! And there’s a lot that goes on to get it to that wall.

I like to keep this idea of how many people and how much work is involved and who has done it when making a meal or in the checkout line at the grocery store. Someone, and actually many people, have been involved in growing the food, harvesting it, delivering it, putting it on the shelves and making it available for me to buy at my nearby grocery store, which is close enough for me to walk to. This reflection is a good opportunity to hold appreciation and gratitude for all those people who made it so easy for me to live a generally comfortable life aquí en Taos!