We met David here, in 3D boatyard by pure accident. We literally stumbled upon him the first minute we came. He was working on his catamaran Ubuntu with protective goggles and a breathing mask, scraping the bottom of the boat, when we started asking him all kinds of questions. He was very polite, and answered them all.
We became friends instantly with him and the rest of his family.
We found out that he is an artist many days later. It is not something he is bragging about.
L.A. Layers, Large Format Series
oil and acrylic on canvas
by David Milton
I always wanted to paint. But I started painting professionally late, when I was 40. I started in California, when I took part in a program to stimulate the artistic creative process; a program combining art and psychology using a technique called Stream of Consciousness. We started with writing exercises. For 30 minutes we just wrote whatever came to mind. No order, no thought. I wrote poetry using this technique. The next exercise was to fill a page with color in 15 minutes. No white space. It is how I started painting and developing my personal abstract style.
Indian Market 1, South Africa Series
mixed media on wood panels
by David Milton
When I paint, there is no thought in my head necessarily. I just start painting. I do it by reflex. If it feels right I put it on the canvas. It is very much a process, not a predetermined concept.
Cross-Pollinate, 50-50 Series
Mixed media on canvas
by David Milton
But since we have been travelling, I have been inspired by the world that surrounds me: nature in the Caribbean; the underwater world; beautiful sunsets.
The Carnival Series, for example, was inspired by the energy of Grenada, the people, the festival.
Jump Up, Carnival Series
mixed media on canvas
by David Milton
For some reason, in Valencia I was struck by the strange angles of the roofs of buildings from different eras and how they related to each other.
Spacial Connection I, Valencia Series
acrylic on canvass
by David Milton
Still, when I paint, I don’t think too much about any subject or concept. I just paint.
Asteroid Dance, Celestials Series
mixed media on paper
by David Milton
I love David’s paintings. I find them captivating and dangerously hypnotizing. I become weightless and start spinning looking at them, don’t you?
If you’d like to see more of David’s art, you can find it on his website at davidmilton.com
You can also read his Stream of Consciousness poems here.
All image copyrights reserved by David Milton
A true discovery :-)! Thanks for posting this. I find it interesting that David writes he does not think much of any concept. That is how I perceive abstract art. I have written about that (see http://asifoscope.org/2013/03/02/before-words/). It is interesting to learn that this holds for the process of creating such paintings as well, at least for some artists.
I love your reflections on non-conceptual perception and abstract art as void of thought, and what most fascinates me is how you relate it to early childhood:
“One of the reasons I like abstract art so much might be that it throws me back into a state before words. I don’t have concepts, except for very basic “geometrical” ones like “line” or “speck”, to describe what I am seeing, or very general ones like “waves” that do not really capture the structure that is there. I cannot create an interpretation. I just see. I just hear. And there it is again, that feeling of pure beauty and fascination.”
Fantastic article!
Thank you!
Pingback: The Ubuntu Family | The Life Nomadik