Dave McNally on Painting
While growing up in Chicago, Illinois, I watched my father toil his entire life in an automobile factory.
In doing so, he imparted to me one of the most important lessons of my life.
"Have the courage to follow your heart and pursue your passions".
His labors afforded me the opportunity to do just that and I have been extremely fortunate
to have lived my life in this fashion.
Charles Hawthorne said to his students "…your ability to see – that’s the whole job of the painter." and
"It is the painter's business, the painter's job, to point out to the public the beauties of nature."
Light intrigues me, especially mountain light, filtered through thin, high altitude air.
It is clearer, sharper than at lower altitudes and makes it seem like you can see forever…like no place on earth.
Light defines our world, gives color, form and grandeur to nature.
"I am well again, I came to life in the cool winds and crystal waters of the mountains," John Muir.
And so it was for me.
Art is a solitary business and the artist spends much of his/her life in the desert, in solitude.
This is where art is made.
He explores, contemplates and appreciates his world, internalizes the experience and expresses the encounter.
Occasionally, he must visit the oasis to share the vision.
"There is a bridge between man’s powers to conceive and his ability to achieve that can only be bridged by desire."
Khalil Gibran.
There are many parallels between art, mountaineering and the martial arts.
To be born with some talent is helpful but all of these endeavors require constant dedication, application, perseverance and patience.
Each of these "arts" requires one to press on long after you believe you can. Body, mind and spirit are tested and revealed.
The body, being least, is the first to yield to the struggle and then the mind, much stronger, must take over.
Eventually, the mind fatigues and succumbs and it is then that the spirit can be revealed, strengthened and polished
Fellow artist, Jim Wilcox, likes to say "It takes two life times to become an artist.
One to learn to paint…and another to paint!"
The artist must be prepared for rejection, criticism, failure and worst of all, indifference.
I have found no shortage of anguish in this process and it is a hard path to follow. But that’s what makes it great!
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Snake Wrangler!
Dave painting on location in the Karakoram Himalaya of Pakistan.
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Summit aspirations.
Ridge walking.
Words that resonate...
"I am a lover of uncontained and immortal beauty. In the wilderness I find something more dear and connate than in the streets and villages." -
Emerson
"Nature wears the colors of the spirit." -
Emerson
"Life means venture. To live is to risk. The person who takes no risks does not really live." -
Charles Houston
"You may have heard of the blessed mountain; it is the highest mountain in the world. Should you reach the top, all you would find there would be a longing to be down again among those who dwell in the valleys. That is why it is called the blessed mountain." -
Khalil Gibran
"There are times in life, you can count them in minutes, when you experience an awareness far greater than you usually find in a whole year." -
F.M. Dostoevsky
"Fear and doubt are the seeds of failure; Success is the fruit of faith and courage." -
Unknown
"What we do in life, echoes in eternity." -
Gladiator