Flow

The initial idea was to show flow from the top of the painting to the bottom. The painting took a few turns in achieving this goal. In the end, it does. It's up to the viewer to decide the rest of the story. And if it is about flow to them or something else.

“Abundance is a flow of energy through you.” Steve Rother

Flow, Mixed Media on Canvas, 82 x 49 x 0 in (full size), 78 x 45 inches is the approximate stretched size.

"As your faith is strengthened you will find that there is no longer the need to have a sense of control, that things will flow as they will, and that you will flow with them, to your great delight and benefit."–Emmanuel Teney

Description

This painting was the largest I’ve painted so far. I didn’t accomplish it without growing pains.

- Process

The logistical process was a challenge from the beginning. Oh, the angst. Ha! From deciding the exact size to cut the canvas to reconfiguring my hanging system, I had to do the preparatory work before putting paint on the canvas.

Once that was over, how to paint the vision that came to me about this painting? Flow. That was the initial idea. I wondered how I could achieve the feeling of flow without actually painting water.

"Climbing is the same: recognizing that you are a flow. The purpose of the flow is to keep on flowing, not looking for a peak or utopia but staying in the flow. It is not a moving up but a continuous flowing; you move up to keep the flow going. There is no possible reason for climbing except the climbing itself; it is a self-communication.”― Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience

Maybe there are many ways to understand “flow.” Maybe there are other meanings behind this painting to the viewer. So, I’ll stop my side of the story and let you decide what it’s about and how it achieves that.