Paintings by Fish Townsend
I am 37 years old, recently returned to my birthplace, and married to my wife. My paintings are a strong and consistent, ethereal grounding for my soul. I’ve never focused on training or technique; in fact, I’ve run from it. Something in me absolutely refused to be trained in art. Learn more about paintings by Fish Townsend.
Though I’d love to learn established techniques, there’s beauty in allowing space for the unmanifested. What has developed over the years has come from sitting with and contemplating the canvas itself, or the brush strokes after applying a layer of color.
The images emerge in front of me and I turn the canvas until I’ve chosen the most intriguing landscape. I do the best I can to fill in the impression I’ve received with the colors and movement that will bring it to life. Because I never begin with a preconceived notion, whatever might be waiting there simply moves through me. I am ever in awe of what comes. Whether holding a concept, a person, musician, or absolutely nothing in mind, what arises in these moments entangles parallels that bring me back to this process again and again.
It’s another world, what happens. Otherworldly beings in an otherworldly dimension. It’s the spirit and energy, Divine Spirit, inherent and in extractable from the whole, whether or not in part; and it is glorious. My keenness for the lighting of the witching hour comes through, I think, helping to catch the unreal in the very real levels of perception.
I’ve come to see that this is the consciousness that shines through when I put paint on a brush, apply the brush to the canvas, and listen to what is there.
Of the paintings on exhibit at Susan Hensel’s Gallery, Gifts 1, 2, and 3 show the result of this process in 2007. Hope, Faith, and Love show a later incarnation, 2010. I hope you enjoy them as much as I do.
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