An Artist Can Only Paint What Is Inside Of Them

I have always felt that painters paint who they are. When I look back on the many years I have been a working artist, it is almost a catalogue of my life, experiences and emotions.

A friend, an artist ,who was my first encaustic student when I moved to Mexico almost 15 years ago, says he likes to paint chaos and uses mostly black on his very large paintings. One of his series is called Melancholy and the Lost. There are symbols that look to me like nuclear clouds. He was the one who told me that to be recognized as a Mexican artist, I had to paint angry art. That is never going to happen. The deeper I get into my spiritual, meditation practice, the less I want to bring more tension in my work.

I have spent a few hours going through images going back to about 1968 and almost got lost in memories of where I was emotionally when I made these paintings. Nothing stays the same and it is interesting to see my artist's journey following my physical and emotional journey. All of these images are figurative.

Since last August, 2018, I have been working on my series, "The Lightness of Being", all abstract. www.ezshwan.com (If you would like to sign up to receive my monthly newsletter, there is a form on the welcome page.)

I did not start photographing my work before the 1960's so the examples are all after that date.

about 1968

1969

about 1975

1978

1976

 

1987

The Circus Series, 1989

Every Woman Is A Goddess, circa 1991

Her Journey, A Woman's path to self-realization ,circa 1993

circa 1994

1995

1999

2000

The Love Letter, 2016

2017

2018