More meditations on painting

Not much is striking me lately in Scooter News, Alternative Energy, Steampunk, or any of the other random things the Dragon normally focuses on. As I've mentioned, a lot lately, I'm putting most of my energies into painting.
On that topic, I owe apologies to Janet and David, and to Mom. I am still working on the paintings, and your patience will be rewarded.

So anyway, in a recent search I came across this discussion in a forum on Alex Grey's website about Salvador Dali, who's 50 Secrets of Magic Craftsmanship I have been rereading. This one post in particular, is a great summation of some of the lessons to be gleaned from this obtuse and agust tome. It's so awesome that I'm gonna post the whole message.

Posted: 2004-10-20 07:48
In the book I mentioned above, he goes into what the ants mean, as well as the crutches, and other things.
But to Dali, and this is the case with most Master's is that to be a Master you have to think like a Master, and live like a Master according to what you think a Master is.
If you say to yourself that you will never be like the Masters, then you would be correct, you will never be like the Masters. But if you think, and above that, know you are a Master, then your Body will follow your mind.
Also, you most likely will not be a Master in the way Dali was, or Raphael, or Van Gogh, because they were each Masters in different ways. You will be a Master in your own way, and only that way. You will never paint like Dali, and nor should you desire to. A Master paints the way they see the world, and we each do not see the world the way Dali did, but we see it in our own ways.
Do not diefy Masters into a realm you feel you cannot achieve, because there is no rason that you can not be as great or even better artist than they were.
The difference is knowing you are and not thinking you are.
Even if you are not a Master in the true sense of the world, you must see yourself as a Master well before that time. Why? Because you mind points the direction for your body to follow.
If you desire to be a Master, listen to your soul, and then paint what it tells you.
Keith Dragon