  |
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Painting is the third career in Jeff Hayes' life. The first two — first as a musician and then as a developer of internet software — still breathe their influence into his daily studio work. He feels that his experiences as a composer left him with very strong sensitivities to rhythm, line, balance, and harmony. "These are every bit as much a part of the world of the painting as they are the symphony," says Hayes.
Although he no longer composes music, it remains an integral part of his creative process. "I cannot paint without my studio being filled with it," he reflects. "In fact, when it is quiet, it feels like a very sterile and vaguely uncomfortable place to be." The nearly dozen years that Hayes spent working as a software engineer have given him a careful, deliberate, and analytical mindset. He finds he often applies this thinking while painting, "particularly," says Jeff, "in studying the nature and behavior of light, which, in one limited sense, is what painters really do." He adds,
Most of my paintings, and in particular my daily paintings, begin with a moment of connection with a common object or scene: Fundamentally re-viewing something I've seen around me dozens, maybe hundreds of times, and realizing that it has within it the seed of a work of art. These quiet, peaceful, and intimate moments are for me the essence of what it means to be an artist. They also have a direct bearing on the kinds of paintings I make. Although I love creating landscapes outdoors, and enjoy the occasional challenge of a portrait, it's no accident that maybe three quarters of all the pieces I've ever done have been still lifes.
I suppose they are really attempts to hold and savor these moments of mental and spiritual stillness.