Gabriel Boray, artist: Guest Post : How Painting Is Like Writing

I introduce you today to the artist and teacher par excellence Gabriel Boray. His guest essay compares painting to writing. I would add, and will do an essay soon on this subject, that a painting is like a poem.

When you go to a museum and stand before a framed painting, you know instinctively that the form of what you are looking at is part and parcel of how it communicates to you. There is no way to separate those two: the form and its communication.

Gabriel Boray, b. 1972, is an American artist whose works hang in collections throughout the U.S. and abroad. A full-time painter for 10 years, Gabriel started with oils in 1999 after pursuing writing and music composition from the time he was a teenager. Since 2001, Gabriel has placed his work into public and private collections worldwide.

He writes about painting theory and technique with a focus on experiential learning on his amazing blog Secrets of a Modern Painter.

What you are about to read will give you some idea of what Gabriel’s new book Secrets of Powerful Painting Book 1 will offer. I’ve had a glimpse and this book dramatically bridges the gap between the theoretical and the practical. More important, it will help you find the invention while teaching you the craft. Gabriel will be your guide and you will find your voice.

After all, painting is like writing.

You will be able to download the book August 1.

Painting Is Like Writing by Gabriel Boray


All art is about tension, conflict and resolution.

Forces push and pull - every aspect struggles against one another to find its place in the picture.

When the corner of a staircase painted with a flick of bluish gray is enough to let you know there is an old man inside,

when the reflection in the wet street tells of the lovers who have walked through,

when the faint orange glow just above the horizon makes you feel the storm that has passed by,

then you have begun to tap into the symbolic narrative potential of the individual design elements.

Years ago, the Greek idea of the hero’s journey was recapitulated by Joseph Campbell in The Hero with a Thousand Faces as a way to understand myth and fiction; it can also be related to painting.

Regardless of whether the work is abstract or representational, the elements of narrative can be explored in a painting.

Some of the main conflicts well known to drama are: Man against Man, Man against Nature, Man against Himself, Man against God, and Man against Society.

Something has driven you to begin your new work, a need, a calling: a line is drawn, a color placed,  a series of marks made—soon the dominant elements show themselves like a series of characters in a story, each striving toward a goal.  

Often, successful narratives and paintings have one element or character that is most important or dominant—the hero.

I like paintings that leave some of the early and middle stages visible to allow the story of its creation to unfold. Every artist prefers varying subject matter and different levels of finish or completion; however, keeping in mind the parallel components of visual design and fictional narrative can enrich a work of art with multiple levels of interpretation.

Each character is striving toward some goal—they have a need—and by struggling to accomplish that goal and satisfy their need, they experience growth - a character arc.

The hero has a call to action—there is a reason to step forward, to do something, to draw the line or place the color. The situation is considered, and troubles and challenges accepted—the hero must question himself and any doubts: as in literature, specific engagements are purposefully employed to explore and express these trials. The hero chooses —or is driven to pursue the outcome, regardless of consequences.

Parallel to your thoughts about design principles, consider each of the elements as individual characters striving for authority and resolution; if you can sense the symbolism and metaphor, it can help with unifying elements across the canvas.

Let the oil paint speak for itself and it’s a god. Force it to say something and you may find that all it can do is lie.

See more of his paintings that I show here at Gabriel Boray.com.

Find Gabriel on his blog, his website and on Google+. And be sure to get his book Secrets of Powerful Painting Book 1. Download it from SecretsofaModernPainter.com on August 1!