Kondos Workshop

Just did three days with the internationally known Sacramento artist, Gregory Kondos, for a very humbling, happy, spiritual and freeing experience.  I recall the Clint Eastwood movie; The Good, The Bad and the Ugly and that it was separated into three parts.

THE HUMBLING:
The man is 90 years old, and still a very vibrant, talented and forthcoming artist who shares his innermost thoughts, experiences, and opinions.  The humbling for me came when I realized that I am a mere minion in this painting endeavor that has occured in my "last act" and that sometimes I just need to sit and listen and BELIEVE what my senses are telling me.  I think this is Mr. Kondos message in his stories of "stupid teachers, world sketching adventures, friendships with the likes of Wayne Thiebauld and others, the love of his mother and listening to our mothers, and not listening to critics."

THE HAPPY:
Gregory and Monnie (his wife), are an act within the act.  There's a certain bickering that goes on between the two which at first kind of embarrassed me, but then One realizes that the love these two share just has to come out in this way and it's a funny, happy way to live-- to be so sure of the other person in the relationship that whatever is said is taken with a grain of salt and "yes darling" can be the next words uttered by either of the two.  The playful, flirty personality of Gregory is just so fun to watch and of which to be a part.  Then we have Monnie, who is the holding together beam of this House of Kondos with her husband contributing his own kind of stories of a life well lived represented by his paintings.

THE SPIRITUAL AND FREEING:
And then to really HEAR permission given to go with my gut, to free myself of all the rules of art, to simplify and be one with the process without worry about the outcome became such a spiritual experience for me.  I have heard the words many times before and intellectually I know that to be true, the process is ART for me--not the outcome.  And this is an ongoing lesson in my life that never ceases to bring forth that joy of life that I have within me so much of the time.  Greg is not the only painter that has given me the spiritualness of this lesson, and so I thank them all for that.

Here are the two paintings I produced during the workshop.