A History of Kindness

By Kirstie McKinnon | Posted: Monday Mar 17, 2025

Falling Quiet

Part of the sensitivity of artistic work is sensing when a work is finished. In a poem this can mean the moment when all the pieces click together, and the poem feels like a small sculpture, fully formed and smooth. In a painting this moment is delicate. I’ve learned to stop just before I think it’s finished. I’ve learned that a painting can lose something of its presence, its life, if I keep adding paint; and at other times, the form does not reveal itself until I’ve added another layer, and perhaps another. In this way, a failed painting can become a favourite, or it can remain a mucky mess. I have learned to love all aspects of this enquiry, as the mucky, and the pleasing forms both teach me.

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