The “trancelike state of wonder” is probably a pretty good description; when I paint, for most of the time I cease to be self-aware; I simply am what I do. Thoughts flit through my head like autumn leaves, but never settle enough for me to notice I am thinking. I think her description of how to paint will give the artist the “spiritual” benefits of painting and likely get pieces that are meaningful to the artist, but that isn’t all good art is. There is often a significant amount of skill and planning required; I don’t know of any “great” artists who worked without studies and roughs, and usually with a great deal of formal training. A good, solid understanding of composition and color is as necessary to an artist as a good vocabulary and knowledge of sentence structure is to an author. You could get a decent book from an author who just sat down in front of a blank page, but it isn’t as likely. If I start to paint without a really solid idea in my head of what I will do, the piece will likely not be as good as it might have been with a little planning. I’d have to deal with all the color and composition issues right than and there, which require nearly a complete reworking of the whole piece if they are gotten wrong. This is very frustrating and can break my concentration, not to mention I cannot afford to habitually waste that much paint. The point of getting a lot of the big issues out of the way beforehand is to keep myself from being needlessly distracted once I get into the “painting” mindset; I will adapt and modify on the fly but it helps to have some sort of structure.
I think she is right when she speaks of those who have not been artists most of their lives; many people say to me “I wish I could do that” to which I reply “why don’t you?” I think everyone can create good art, but they are afraid to try. So her encouragement could get them started with the “heart” part of art, and the “head” stuff can come later when they are confident enough to critique their own work. While inspiration and freedom while painting is a very fine thing and much sought after by artists, they also make sure they have a solid background in the “rules” of art. Once you can use (or knowingly break) these “rules” instinctively, you can paint consistently freely and well.
