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Dr Yvonne Kason – Farther Shores

A man I will call Edward … held a doctorate in social work, but he had been painting for years and his art work was an extremely important part of his life

My desire to paint began spontaneously when I was an adolescent. When I paint, I feel myself going into an altered state of consciousness that is almost a trance.  I become virtually oblivious to external stimuli and lose track of night and day and times for meals and sleep.

I have also found that I cannot make these creative periods begin. My friends often try to commission work from me, but I am unable to begin a painting at will.  It seems that the creative urge has to surface out of my innermost self and then propel me into the altered mental state that is necessary before I can express my creativity.

Once one of these states begins, I go into a compulsive, highly energetic mode that I call my painting frenzy.

I become extremely irritated if something interrupts me, and I resent it when someone tries to remind me of worldly schedules or commitments.

I am able to paint only when I am in one of these trance-like states. I am also aware that my creative periods have a mystical quality, Although my paintings are all scenes from nature, I have been told they have a transcendental quality.

I try to capture an otherworldly luminosity that I see in scenes of nature when I am in one of my altered states.