Eclipse as Muse: The Painting Alchemy of April

Eclipse, by Julio Panisello-Huguet

Where did April go?

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As the final page of April turns, we are wrapping up our fourth painting collection this year, which focused on eclipsescapes: the celestial occurrences, and the introspection they revealed.

For a brief spell at the beginning of the month, the sun’s veil captured the world's attention, temporarily suspending the relentless cascade of wretched news tearing down the world. It also caught our painters' eye: the event highlighted the spectrum of viewpoints and perspectives, visible and invisible, conflating the heavenly and the personal.

The shrouded light during the eclipse in the LA area appeared as if the sun's rays filtered through a kite made of cheesecloth, woven to project miniature lunar crescents on the ground, mirroring the projections of a Moroccan lantern on a room's ceiling. It momentarily altered the landscape, both physical and emotional, just enough to draw a gasp of awe and command silence.

Even though the light change was fleeting and barely noticeable, we wanted the memory of it to linger throughout the month's painting sessions, so we set up to translate its esoteric spell with our brushstrokes. We essentially stretched the duration of the eclipse from a few minutes to an entire month.

In the end, painting eclipsescapes proved to be alchemical, a metaphor for accepting new beginnings and letting go of past creative doubts. The tenuous shadows during the eclipse reminded us of the widespread external and internal changes resulting from something so distant, fleeting, and small. We reflected on how negligible shifts in hiding and seeking, letting go and stepping on, could positively influence our paintings and, by extension, our lives.

What kind of painters are we? What changes will we bring to our practice to elevate our work? The eclipse inspired us to imagine a creative future that embraces our authentic painting identities and aspires to go further. It presented us new opportunities to cut back on procrastination and stand proudly and fearlessly on our creative lives.

The tale of our artistic journey up to the present, the eclipse, has not hardened our feet. Our genuineness is undying and fluid, always flowing forward, unconfined as long as we allow it; it is not dependent on our approval or judgment, let alone that of others. We don't toss our brushstrokes as discarded by the side of a road; our paintmarks cut through mountains, carving our way onward to the other side of the sun.

Julio Panisello-Huguet, April 2024