Accidental Circumstances

I remember once reading that Leonardo DaVinci commented that the most interesting paintings occurred where people spit. He was talking about the public fountains where people would stop for a drink of water and rinse out their mouths spitting it out on the fountain wall. The random shapes and stains intrigued Leonardo and he would see many things in them. I have also read about artists that would pore, splatter, and drip paint onto their canvas and let it dry. They would then stare at the surface until some shape made them think of an image and the direction of the painting would be determined. But what about working in a deliberate manner and then some accidental slip up occurs and the result is a remarkable effect.

Many times I have had this accidental slip up give me some great results. I would worry, though, if this were a legitimate element of my painting. After all I didn’t deliberately intend to create that effect, shape, form, or whatever. How much could I take credit for that? How long was I going to have to wait until another wonderful accident occurred that I could exploit and claim as my own? I thought that this was a dumb thing to think about. Years later, during a workshop I was doing, I had a student show me one of her mistakes and she wanted to know if it was okay to keep it in the painting. More importantly, she wanted to know how to do it again.

Do my accidents and mistakes happen because I am just going along on automatic pilot? Do I really pay attention to my accidental happenings? Do I really learn from them or even want to learn from them? I started paying more attention to them and learned more than I expected. Because of this attention, I have discovered wonderful colors and color combinations that I otherwise would never have known about. I discovered bits and pieces of things that could be elaborated on to get wonderful effects. Most importantly, I learned how to create them over and over again.

One of the things that I now tell others is that art does not happen by accident. It may have its roots or beginnings in accidental situations but then the artist needs to take that and work it until it has taken a shape and form of its own. I tell students that they must pay attention to their mistakes and be able to create them again. That if they make something accidentally and cannot recreate it then it is not art. Art happens on purpose, it is deliberate. The artist has learned how to use the tools and materials and from them create something new.

One of my views of being an artist is that I stand in the middle of chaos, watching and waiting. Occasionally I reach out and grab a piece of chaos. I look at it and study it. Maybe it is complete in itself, maybe it is not. I reach out and grab a second piece, a third, and maybe even more. Eventually I work to assemble these pieces into something new and whole. To bring order out of the chaos.

So why am I thinking about all this accidental chaos? Tuesday afternoon, on my way home, another driver, who was not paying attention, was speeding and ran a stop sign. Being an old fart I tend to drive more cautiously. I caught a glimpse of him out of the corner of my eye and my parental instincts kicked in. I had just a moment to slam on my brakes and to try to swerve my van. I was partially successful. Both vehicles were totaled. I was later told what I did saved his life. If I had hit him straight on at the speed I was going (50 mph) my large commercial van would’ve torn through the car’s cabin and crushed his head. I also would’ve been severely injured or killed. I still get nauseas when I think about it.

This accident now sets me on a different path. I no longer have a vehicle and we cannot afford to replace it right now. Plans that were made for the next month or two now need to be rethought and reconsidered. However, it has not changed my priorities. I got to come home to my priorities, my wife, children, grandson, cats and dogs, and all things living. I guess it must be time for a new adventure.


The above painting is titled “A Solitary Cypress”. It measures 23“ X 17.5“ and is oil on a hardwood panel and was completed in May 2006. The van to the right is titled a total wreck. It is my 1999 GMC Savannah 3500 diesel that was wrecked in the accident.