Soul Images

Most artists seldom reveal in writing the meaning behind painting a particular artwork. Reasons vary with the innumerable purposes in choosing art as a career. Having great respect for the power of words, I combined a written message with a painting using poetry of my own design. I call the poem a TONETTE. The term TONETICS, derived from the literary science of speech sounds is the basis of this poetry. In a Tonette, there are ten lines with a corresponding number of syllables for each line. The first line begins with ten syllables. The following nine lines are each reduced by one syllable concluding with the last line's one syllable word. The result is an upside down right triangle. Its meaning is hidden intentionally for the readers to discover. In placing the Tonette as an extension opposite a painting, reveals the painting's stimulus for creating words. Seen as an attachment, the Tonette presents a new visual and mental experience. Creating Tonettes was verbal game-playing and fun. My method was to first look at my painting and use 'free-association' for words to come into my mind. As the words form I tap-out on my desk, the number of syllables, meaning, usage and sound. Mental health professionals use free-association technique to reveal their patients' subconscious memory. Using this method, I uncovered hidden themes, unknown to me, proving one's subconscious mind is never fully repressed. Perhaps, this is the reason most artists do not try to explain their work with words. For the true artist, painting is an obsession. The artist at work really does not know why he or she feels compelled to paint both subject matter and content. I never begin a painting with a preconceived idea. The canvass is always a blank. Images and colors emerge, sometimes quickly, at other times not-so-fast. As the composition evolves, the finished painting's color, line, shape, texture, volume, variations in tones all fuse together into a whole. Amazingly, we never escape our subconscious selves.