Selected Statements & Video

When I’m in front of empty canvas, I have led up to that blank white canvas for probably at least ten days, all storing up. It seems to be one reaches at a given moment the point where the creative imaging is poised and ready to flow out. That means for me that I’m in a state of being receptive and creative at the same time. Before starting, it’s like the eye of the storm: it’s quiet but there’s some kind of momentary feeling of almost exploding inside, like it needs to come out.  And I think that’s really why—at least for me—that’s why I paint.

Sheila Isham, quoted in the film, “Sheila Isham,” directed and edited by Luc Cote, 1984

Painting to me is being open to what’s around me, to what’s happening, and being receptive to what’s within and being willing to change—to walk out on the branch, to let the branch fall, to jump out if change is demanded, to not worry if [change] is not being accepted.

[Painting for me] is to just say in the best and most expressive way, with the greatest color, with the greatest line, and the greatest sensitivity, what I feel.

Inspiration is . . . everywhere: the clouds in the sky, wildflowers inspire me, the changes of color: colors changing, skies changing, the ground changing, the light in the mountains. Color and light for a painter are the two most important elements. Light is so extraordinary because light is behind and in front, within. For example, you can look at a person and tell how much light they have within them. And, it’s the same way in nature. You wake up in the morning and the sun is coming up in one end and it feels differently from the evening. There’s a different feeling...

Nothing is going on in my mind while I’m painting, because the mind is fully at rest. It is on hold. It’s blank, because something else takes over at that point. The mind is not directing you whatsoever. At that point, again, one become totally one with whatever you are expressing, whatever is coming through. . . . And shifting colors is just so intuitive, it follows so naturally. It’s like tapping the source; it’s like plugging into a reservoir of energy. The feeling is not one of outrageous laughter, but it’s one of quiet joy. . . . It’s like looking into a very quiet reflecting pool and seeing that an inner nature and inner substance. It’s seeing that reflection of all of our inner natures coming back. 

Film, “Sheila Isham”: directed and edited by Luc Cote
Music: Sunderdas Giron
Shot on locations at “Skyfields,” Sagaponack, Long Island, NY
and in New York City, 77 Park Avenue, April 1984

Videos

Paintings / Poems

When something has to change, I change, too.
As for my art, I cannot stop the image from changing either.
So, I honor that shift. Process is important.

From “Who’s Here: Sheila Isham, Artist,” in Dan’s Papers, October 15, 1999, 27