<html><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=us-ascii"></head><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;" class=""><div dir="auto" style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;" class=""><h3 class="entry-header" style="margin: 1px 0px 10px; border: 0px; line-height: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; widows: 2; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><span style="font-weight: normal;" class=""><font size="4" class="">Instructions to Painters & Poets</font></span></h3><div class="entry-content" style="position: static; clear: both; margin: 10px 0px; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; widows: 2; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><div class="entry-body" style="clear: both;"><p class="" style="margin-top: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px;"><br class=""></p><p class="" style="margin-top: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px;">I asked a hundred painters and a hundred poets<br class="">how to paint sunlight<br class="">on the face of life<br class="">Their answers were ambiguous and ingenuous<br class="">as if they were all guarding trade secrets<br class="">Whereas it seems to me<br class="">all you have to do<br class="">is conceive of the whole world<br class="">and all humanity<br class="">as a kind of art work<br class="">a site-specific art work<br class="">an art project of the god of light<br class="">the whole earth and all that's in it<br class="">to be painted with light</p></div><a id="more" class="" style="text-decoration: underline;"></a><div class="entry-more" style="clear: both;"><p class="" style="margin-top: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px;"><br class="">And the first thing you have to do<br class="">is paint out postmodern painting<br class="">And the next thing is to paint yourself<br class="">in your true colors<br class="">in primary colors<br class="">as you seem them<br class="">(without whitewash)<br class="">paint yourself as you see yourself<br class="">without make-up<br class="">without masks<br class="">Then paint your favorite people and animals<br class="">with your brush loaded with light<br class="">And be sure you get the perspective right<br class="">and don't fake it<br class="">because one false line leads to another</p><p class="" style="margin-top: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px;">And then paint the high hills<br class="">when the sun first strikes them<br class="">on an autumn morning<br class="">With your palette knife<br class="">lay it on<br class="">the cadmium yellow leaves<br class="">the ochre leaves<br class="">the vermillion leaves<br class="">of a New England autumn<br class="">And paint the ghost light of summer nights<br class="">and the light of the midnight sun<br class="">which is moon light<br class="">And don't paint out the shadows made by light</p><p class="" style="margin-top: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px;">for without chiaroscuro you'll have shallow pictures<br class="">So paint all the dark corners too<br class="">everywhere in the world<br class="">all the hidden places and minds and hearts<br class="">which light never reaches<br class="">all the caves of ignorance and fear<br class="">the pits of despair<br class="">the sloughs of despond<br class="">and write plain upon them<br class="">"Abandon all despair, ye who enter here"</p><p class="" style="margin-top: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px;">And don't forget to paint<br class="">all those who lived their lives<br class="">as bearers of light<br class="">Paint their eyes<br class="">and the eyes of every animal<br class="">and the eyes of beautiful women<br class="">known best for the perfection of their breasts<br class="">and the eyes of men and women<br class="">known only for the light of their minds<br class="">Paint the light of their eyes<br class="">the light of sunlit laughter<br class="">the song of eyes<br class="">the song of birds in flight</p><p class="" style="margin-top: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px;">And remember that the light is within<br class="">if it is anywhere<br class="">and you must paint from the inside<br class="">Start with purity<br class="">with pure white<br class="">the pure white of gesso<br class="">the pure white of cadmium white<br class="">the pure white of flake white<br class="">the pure virgin canvas<br class="">the pure life we all begin with</p><p class="" style="margin-top: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px;">Turner painted sunlight<br class="">with egg tempera<br class="">(which proved unstable)<br class="">and Van Gogh did it with madness<br class="">and the blood of his ear<br class="">(also unstable)<br class="">and the Impressionists did it<br class="">by never using black<br class="">and the Abstract Expressionists did it<br class="">with white house paint<br class="">But you can do it with the pure pigment<br class="">(if you can figure out the formula)<br class="">of your own true light<br class="">But before you striek the first blow<br class="">on the virgin canvas<br class="">remember its fagility<br class="">life's extreme fragility<br class="">and remember its innocence<br class="">its original innocence<br class="">before you strike the first blow</p><p class="" style="margin-top: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px;">Or perhaps never strike it<br class="">And let the light come through<br class="">the inner light of the canvas<br class="">the inner light of the models posed<br class="">in the life study<br class="">the inner light of everyone<br class="">Let it all come through<br class="">like a pentimento<br class="">the light that's been painted over<br class="">the life that's been painted over<br class="">so many times<br class="">Let it all surge to the surface<br class="">the painted-over image<br class="">of primal life on earth</p><p class="" style="margin-top: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px;">And when you've finished your painting<br class="">stand back astonished<br class="">stand back and observe<br class="">the life on earth that you've created<br class="">the lighted life on earth<br class="">that you've created<br class="">a new brave world</p><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class=""><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span> - Lawrence Ferlinghetti</div></div></div><div class=""><blockquote type="cite" class=""><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class=""></div></blockquote></div></div></body></html>