Posts
Jeremy Miranda
A warm recommendation for a painter: Jeremy Miranda
https://jeremymiranda.bigcartel.com/
Clouds in parks
I'm no longer ashamed and openly declare my intention to become a clouds in parks painter.
I understand that the subject is very complex, and there is a good chance it will not succeed, but I feel confident enough to try.
It won't be easy, but I will repeatedly go to the parks and try to draw clouds.
If I succeed, I will be able to be satisfied with the cloud paintings in the park. That will be huge. It's a superpower.
In the picture: my hippie wife looks at the clouds while I paint. If you meet her and she tells you about her sacrifice for her husband's painting career, please remember this picture.
Nathan Shalva.
Pain and pleasure
I realized that painting is a journey that will never end: A journey of misery and joy, a vicious circle of pain and pleasure.
It works like this: I manage to understand something, and then I try to implement it, which usually involves suffering a series of failures along the way.
In the end, I more or less achieved what I was after. I am happy for a short while, and then I immediately find something else I understand and want to achieve.
It is like this in every layer of the painting, from the composition to the colors to the subject.
A vicious circle of pain and pleasure that will never going to end.
Make people happy
I don't know how many people I've made happy with my paintings, but there's one thing I'm 100 percent sure of: I've made thousands of people happy just by painting outside, and they have seen me painting.
I don't know why, but many people seem happy to see me drawing with my easel in nature. Just like that, simple. There is a look of joy on their faces. Shining from happiness, there is no other word for it.
People might be pleased to see a person engaged in an old craft that has almost vanished, or they might be happy to know someone engrossed in his pleasures. Perhaps it even makes them think: "Hmmm, interesting, maybe I will too do something I love and am happy about?"
The answer is unknown to me.
Some say "hello," some smile and some keep walking, but you can see in their eyes that they are happy.
Natan Shalva on the industrial design show in Milan, 2024
I try to be nice to everyone, although it can be challenging because I'm immersed in the craft. But if I could, I would hug each one (especially the beautiful ladies), talk to them politely, and encourage them to do what they like and love.
No matter what the reason, it's nice to make people happy. The energy radiates back to me. As far as I am concerned, it's a real accomplishment to know that I made so many people happy, even if it was only for a short while. It is one of the most important things humans can do.
Why are you painting?
It's hard for me to answer because I went through many stages and painted for many reasons. My motivations varied, from a desire to be an professional artiste, to a desire for peace of mind, to enjoying the smell of various paint thinners.
But after a series of different experimental periods, I pretty much settled on one central reason (besides the sniping of colors and thinners, which is always fun): I enjoy the intellectual challenge. That's it, simple as that.
This is a complex topic, and I will only give a few examples as an illustration:
Is the subject of interest to you? What makes it interesting? Is it interesting as a painting?
Is it dark there? Will we paint it in a dark color if it's dark? Would it be better to introduce a cold blue shade for that subject?
Does the wall in the background have a reddish-brown color? Would brown be a good color to paint it? Is it important? If it's really brown and I paint it brown, what will happen? Does it "steal" the main subject's attention to the background wall?
I am almost always dealing with a subject that interests me at the time, or for a particular period of time: light and shadow, hot and cold, composition, stain and line, a close object or a distant landscape, a sense of stability versus a sense of movement, etc.
It's strange how the topics come and go, and then return again, and each time I learn something new.
For me, it's difficult to imagine what a foreign observer would think. Will they be able to see what I was looking for? I don't know.
One thing I know for certain is that I enjoy the intellectual exercise. I enjoy the challenge, I enjoy thinking about it, and I enjoy examining the result.
Often, despite the strange results of the painting, it seems I understand and am satisfied. That's the way it is, and that's fine with me.
As I can
Jan Van Dyck included: "Als Ich Kan" (As I can) in small writing throughout his paintings.
No one knows for sure why he did what he did, but there are many theories.
In my opinion, this is the most precise expression of inner peace with your creation, And this is not a minor issue, it is a critical stage in man's development as a creative man.
Therefore ... I also incorporate these words into some of my paintings without any hint of shame. If you see it, now you know why.
And, if you are ever asked what Van Dyck and Shalva have in common? Then you will have another fascinating detail beyond the obvious things of composition, colors, precision, etc.
