I see through my pictures

.

Harlan's studio at Payne Hollow

.

When I am painting, or have painting in my mind, 

I see more, observe more carefully, am more sensitive... 

I see through my pictures.

.

I see everything as a painting. I see so much more.

.

Seeing things as a painter, seeing pictures.  

This is a great happiness.

.

It brings everything into balance and harmony.

.

Painting can only be done in some state of exaltation.  

It is a force that breaks through the routine of life, 

that transcends life itself.

.

It is exciting with boundless possibilities.

.

I am always painting in my mind.

.

Just a little solid, creative painting and the day is good.  

It brings us closer to the earth, 

makes the present moment exhilarating, 

the future hopeful.

.

It is a strange life when I consider it, 

how I endeavor to attain strength and clarity, 

to mold these base materials into forms which will express me, 

and my attitude, my joy and thankfulness.  

I work alone, 

who cares whether I produce anything or not, 

or who appreciates it?  

Yet I believe a good thing will not perish.

.

~ Harlan Hubbard

from "Harlan Hubbard and the River - A Visionary Life"

by Don Wallis

.

Share:

I will be watered to my roots

.

A pale sun burning through the mist, 

the soft clouds barely visible in the gray, blue sky... 

Looking up the river I saw a bolt of lightning, 

an arrow from the sky that pierced the earth.

.

A soft rain comes down from the gray sky, 

and sullen thunder rolls into the distance.  

My spirit drinks in the rain like the plants do.  

I will be watered to my roots.

.

It is suddenly full summer.  

We look out from leafy trees.

.

The fragrance of wild grape and honeysuckle 

flowers drifts through the air.  

You enter and leave currents of it as you go along the paths.

.

In the leafy woods there is such contrast to the sunlight

 that the shade is like twilight, 

like going down into a deep ravine.  

The pale green of the jewel weed is ghostly... 

Then to hear the thrush singing on the hill above...

.

I think I saw the first green heron.  

Yes.

.

~ Harlan Hubbard 

from his journals, taken here from

"Harlan Hubbard and the River - A Visionary Life"

by Don Wallis

.

Share:

choosing drifting

a shantyboat community by the river's edge.  

After building their "shantyboat," out of mostly salvaged materials, 

Harlan and Anna set out on the river, 

drifting.

I had no theories to prove. 

I merely wanted to try living by my own hands, 

independent as far as possible from a system of division of labor 

in which the participant loses most of the pleasure 

of making and growing things for himself.  

I wanted to bring in my own fuel and smell its sweet smoke 

as it burned on the hearth I had made.  

I wanted to grow my own food, 

catch it in the river, or forage after it.  

In short, I wanted to do as much as I could for myself, 

because I had already realized from partial experience 

the inexpressible joy of so doing.

This is a windy day with a secret exhilaration about it. 

When I look at the rough water patched with cloud shadows, 

the boat pitching slightly in the wind waves -

 all this from a higher plane somewhere above these little affairs.  

Yet they are a part and lead into it. 

The pure delight of drifting.  

Each time, it was a thrill to shove out into the current, 

to feel the life and power of the river, 

whose beginning and end were so remote.  

We became a part of it, like the driftwood... 

The tension and excitement, the near ecstasy of drifting.  

We had to stop often and take it in small doses.

~ Harlan Hubbard

from Harlan Hubbard and the River - A Visionary Life

by Don Wallis

block prints by Harlan Hubbard

Share:

snug harbor

.

.

To achieve more perfect

harmony with the river

and at the same time 

live close to the earth

... I became a shantyboater

.

~ Harlan Hubbard

from Harlan Hubbard and the River - A Visionary Life

by Don Wallis

.

Share:

the art

.

.

When I paint a landscape,

I try to paint heaven,

and my joy at being there.

.

There is no artist,

living or dead,

whose work would satisfy me

as an expression of my life.

.

Nothing was ever painted 

that I would like to have done.

.

No one ever expressed me.

.

My painting could not have been done by anyone else,

nor in the past.

It is growing more and more unique and personal.

.

The beauty of the snow, 

the pleasure of seeing it

and being out in it.

To express that is the end of art.

.

I would like my paintings to be as real as the rain and stones,

yet transcend reality into sublimity.

.

My pictures follow their own course.

I draw the geographic form, but as the painting goes on,

there springs up a design which is unpredictable,

unconscious, and as perfect as my sense of harmony makes it.

.

~ Harlan Hubbard

from his journals, taken here from

"Harlan Hubbard and the River - A Visionary Life"

by Don Wallis
art: "Crossing the River"
 by Harland Hubbard
.

Share:

I must break forth from my old self

.

Now I must break forth from my old self,

cast away old traditions,

unbind my eyes,

so that I may have a broader vision of truth;

so that I may come to this river, as I do today,

and not find it cluttered with emotions and thoughts of former days;

or its shore lined with drift of cities.

I must see the elements as they are...

.

~ Harlan Hubbard

from his journal, quoted here from

"Harlan Hubbard and the River - A Visionary Life"

by Don Wallis

.

Share: