Parkheuvel (Rotterdam)

Thank-you for posting that, Mark. I have alawys appreciated your inquiries into how you see the world and how others do. My painting teacher in Portland, Maine, the late Bill Collins, spoke about developing an awareness of one's own vision as the basis of painting. He communicated the differences between binocular and peripheral vision. He described binocular vision as functional, enabling us to read or pick up object with our hands or focus on a target. He enthused about peripheral vision as though each person in the world has a unique way of seeing, no less distinct than an individual's face. He used to say that Subject matter means nothing. Rembrandt was painting the same religious scenes and portraits as everyone else in Holland. It was his vision that separated him from the other painters. I remember, Mark, when we first met at Spencefield lean-to in the Smoky Mountains National Park, you were having a discussion with someone in your group who claimed that El Greco's paintings appeared elongated due to a [stigmitism]. I was alawys fascinated by that theory, but the label does nothing to characterize the incredible, unique vision of El Greco.

Gee whiz, and I thugoht this would be hard to find out.