The artist's letter to his son
As I have told you previously my subject is what is before me, and what is before me is always the natural world, the world of paint and seasons. I am painting the world as it is, as faithfully as I can. When I sit out in the open with the heat of the sun and the air moving on my skin, moving in my beard, yes, my laughable beard, the loaded brush upon the canvas as a faithful truth, then it seems to me that the material world is paint already. As if this corner of the meadow were fully composed of tiny particles of paint, light, and the passing air's fluidity.
So many green things in this green world, so many summers and memories of summers. Everything solid carries a shimmer of what it was, a haze of fear and memory.
Striking motifs, calm, reflection. These are pre-requisites for solid work.
Solid as dots of painted light, eh?
Money and work my dear, money and work. And the world is your subject.
Roy Kelly
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