The divine of creation
Daan Noppen drawing in atelier 2015
When I start working on a painting, I always struggle to get going, to get myself and the work into motion, which meets a lot of resistance; it can feel very unnatural. But I have learned to keep going, to get past this threshold, I must.
It can take a while, but there comes a moment when I pass through a window, and something manifests. It is like life finds a way into the work. At this point, the work on the painting starts to flow; it will even direct me. I can sense the painting asking me to take it somewhere.
From this point on, I am no longer conscious of my brush strokes. I no longer register thoughts or consciousness of what I am doing. It is a most wondrous experience. I feel part of something that is whole. I would describe this as the process of divine creation. Not in the sense that there is something supreme about it, but there is a collaboration taking place. I am no longer creating alone. And the act of creating now becomes a vessel of experiencing the whole.
So what happened? When the painting manifests, it sort of takes off, and I descend into the work.
Many artists have described this in the past; they speak of the ‘hand’ in the creation. This is what I have been experiencing. It is no longer just me, there is an energy at play that supports and interferes, enabling a state in me, allowing me to create on another level. I have experienced it many times when I was drawing, painting or writing.
When I became conscious of this, I immediately understood something else. To chase this state was pointless, in fact, the opposite was true. And this is where it became delicate. I asked myself over and over how to make this work. Then one afternoon, during a walk, it came to me. When I had a certain intent for the work, it entered the room.
But I was not able to name it. I could feel it, touch it almost, but I could not say it out loud in plain Dutch. Maybe it was something not common to others? Something I would not be able to share with anyone?
But it wasn’t until I became a father that I was able to name it. My two daughters brought light to many things. How I am with my two daughters, think of them and care for them is with this same intent: love.
Even in the darkest periods of my life, this presence, this energy, would be there. That is, if I managed to pick up a brush and work and get myself into the state, to stand in front of a canvas and start. The depth of the work created in my deepest descent is different, but it carries this same energy. And I am convinced it will stay with these paintings indefinitely.