Wyatt's Musings

My home is in Olde Town Clinton and I love being there. But today, I went home to where I grew up - in as much as I am grown. I drove down the street where I lived as a boy but could not find the spot where our house was. It was gone. No markers. No memorable trees. No leftover driveway. So I went across the street and visited Maggie McKee in the care facility where she lives. When I walked in, she was reading the newspaper, catching up on world events. But we talked about the people we...

As much as it can feel like life has no direction and is going everywhere all at once, the truth is it only goes one way. One time. It will worry you to suppose how things might’ve been perfect had you turned left instead of right.

I teach workshops and tell people it’s more important to make a bunch of imperfect brushstrokes that work together than to make each brushstroke perfect. No such thing as perfect anyway.

There are an infinite number of possible universes that could’ve been: The career juncture that was missed, the young...

It’s important to leave footsteps. They let us know we were here and that we mattered. Maybe they will blow away tomorrow, but as long as the print lasts there is proof.

A caveman smears colored clay on a cave wall in France and painting begins. He paints bison because bison is how he lives. They are more than animals. They are food, clothing, tools, and a social celebration of the kill with his tribe. The painting expresses the bison’s importance to his existence. We think we are far more sophisticated than the caveman period, but...

Painting from life has become less about the paint and more about the life. It’s the stuff that happens along the road. It’s the reason a sandwich tastes better when it’s 3:00 pm and you remember you haven’t eaten lunch.

I’m painting along when, out of nowhere, I have an incredible pain.

A kidney stone. I had to find an emergency room. The nurse’s name was Nancy. She took my blood pressure and searched for a vein to stick an IV. We laughed a little—the way people do when walking past a cemetery at...

An art dealer told me a long time ago, “People don’t want a bargain when they buy art. They want the best.” Not all the advice he gave me was good, but I think this advice was bullseye. With some qualifications, of course.

It is incumbent upon the artist to deliver his or her best. It might be the best act of making art or it might be the physical piece of art. Hopefully, it is all applying.

And why wouldn’t an artist want to deliver the best they can do?

My father said...