Art of Work with Knife

Passacaglia-like Force

The decision of the knife touching the canvas for the first time.
Before subject, before emotion—
a resolve that does not change:
to see this work through to the end.

The angle of the hand holding the knife,
the instant the first colour is laid down—
an attitude that says:
today, I will not avoid this painting.
The canvas is empty,
yet the direction is already set.

The work changes only on the same ground.
Over a scraped surface,
covered again, pushed away again,
the moment when the same colour becomes another.
It does not suddenly turn into a different painting.

My painting does not turn back either.
It only layers. Only accumulates.
Restrained intensity.
A bold hand that does not collapse.
Not pouring emotion out,
not cold either.

Force is present,
but the wrist does not tremble with excitement.
The vertical pressure is precise.
This is not anger—it is concentration.

A swift stroke may look accidental,
yet it never leaves the centre.
By the middle, the density deepens,
and now it is the paint’s turn to speak.
Breath grows shorter, paint thickens.
The hand speeds up before thought can follow.

The painting begins to lead me.
Boundaries blur—
the most passacaglia-like moment of all.
It feels unfamiliar.
Have I come too far?
This is not the painting I knew.
There is more change now,
ornament has grown complex,
and the early simplicity feels distant.

And yet—
The canvas is still there,
and so the work does not stop.
When it feels like I’ve become a stranger,
the work has not failed—
it is simply passing through.
Handel’s Passacaglia does not end like a victory.

Not “It’s done,”
but “I have come this far.”
I put the knife down
and step back,
catching my breath.
I do not need to explain this painting,
because I have already endured the process of making it.

A single decision made with a knife,
never betrayed until the end—
a work like Handel’s Passacaglia.
Not exaggerating emotion,
maintaining a restrained sorrow.

Ending not in completion,
but in standing still.

*these are own my paintings*