March 2025 / No.20

Notes on my art and creative process

At the start of every painting, I carefully compose the image by placing the subject matter in a way that I think will look best: the horizon line should be here; the structure should be there; only show this much of the fence; include that tree, but not this one…

However, when the painting is finished, I inevitably find myself fixating on smaller areas. These smaller areas could almost be paintings on their own and — much to my dismay — I sometimes like them better than the full image. They are glimmerings that emerge only after the painting is complete. Then I wonder: why did I bother with the rest of the painting when the gold was only in a particular area?


For example, in Sklyes Place (below)… I thought showing a large portion of the house behind the poppies was necessary, but just having the dark blue behind them was enough to showcase their dazzle.

With On the Corner (below)… the barn’s bright side was supposed to be the attention-getter, yet the background woods seem so mysterious.

And so on, and so forth…

Although, I bet if I painted one of those smaller areas as a full image, the same thing would happen — a detail of that would become more interesting than the whole. I can already feel it happening with the examples above. It’s like a door that leads to another door that leads to another.

I cannot predict with 100% certainty where “the gold” will appear in advance. I can plan and guess — but the background of On The Corner, for example, was never supposed to be intriguing. So does gold only become gold through the process? And does gold’s value simply depend on what surrounds it?

Despite its appearance on countless bumper stickers and journal covers, I am still stirred by the J.R.R. Tolkien quote: “All that is gold does not glitter.” The process of painting shows me the potential for gold is everywhere.

Instagram: @DrawKevinDraw
Website: KevinTseng.com
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