like everybody else or not

"It has bothered me all my life that I do not paint like everybody else.”
henri matisse

tempera [poster paint ] on butcher paper
13x22
after 'woman in a blue hat'
henri matisse 1905


i try to keep a large sheet of butcher paper..its cheap..on an easel for sketches , experiments and such sometimes just to get moving. i drew this hurridly one day with conte crayon from a print off the internet. on another day i painted it with tempera..also cheap..and i liked it. later i mounted it on masonite and will frame it someday.


i make no claims for these paintings i do after others work but i think i gain from it. ive always liked matisse and i like this painting . my brother mentioned the other day that he liked it so here it is.

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it surprises me that henri would be bothered that he didnt paint like everybody else. woe to art if every painted alike....it seems to me...everyone doesnt see alike.. or at least i know i dont see like everyone else or paint like everyone else.
interestingly i was at a friends loft just yesterday....she is an artist herself but also has quite a gallery of other interesting artists. i had stopped to look at a particular painting which caught my eye...she said "dont you think she paints a lot like you do?" and indeed i thought she did too. i cant remember her name but i might be interested to meet her. im not sure if she is local or not.
i dont try to see or paint differently .... i just do.. just as i believe differently from many others. it just happens. carol would say its my nature. she drives me crazy saying that. any way some people like the way i paint and say so but others just walk right on by showing no interest whatsoever. i dont think that is a matter of right or wrong or of good or bad..that is the individual part of us all although i beleive we are all connected...each a small part of a whole. look at music. to me all new nashville country music sounds pretty much alike ... now look at [or listen to] jazz.... not much of it is alike is it....think about it. very possibly no one else sees or thinks about this issue itsself the way i do. i better leave it at that before ...............

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“I don't know whether I believe in God or not. I think, really, I'm some sort of Buddhist. But the essential thing is to put oneself in a frame of mind which is close to that of prayer.”
henri matisse


From the promise land in Lipscomb Alabama
Where golden eagle table syrup and buffalo rock
Flow freely
And the train whistle blows