To talk about painting is not only difficult but perhaps pointless too.
You can only express in words what words are capable of expressing, what language can communicate.
Painting has nothing to do with that.
That includes the typical question: “What were you thinking of?” You can’t think of anything.
Painting is another form of thinking.
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Obviously Gerhard Richter is a bad ass.
He has skill. And vision. He can create and manipulate images to create something so beautiful. But he also has a belief in painting as a complete form of expression. He gives the painting a voice as it grows and lets the process take the lead:
The paintings do what they want. I planned something totally different.
Sometimes I think the same about yoga. There is a lot of talk, sometimes too much.
We roll out our mats and begin to move. The skill takes us through safely as we go. We have an idea of what it is we want to do: stretch, get grounded, open up, feel better, etc… What we think begins to give way. We move from our heads into the landscape of our bodies and we just go. We move with skill. And with vision. An image starts to come together and we follow.
Movement is another form of thinking.