Artist Will Day on painting and the power of being creative

By Monica Parpal Stockbridge

Will Day’s paintings are big. Not just “hang it over the fireplace mantel” big, or “add color to a lobby” big.

When he paints, Day often uses canvases that measure up to 10 feet by 30 feet, rolling them out on the floor, where he can walk all around them, stretch them on a frame, or slice them smaller if he wants to. Day uses acrylics and oils, and moves about impulsively, surveying his canvas from all angles. He says he often uses his whole body to push, pull, splatter and scrape paint onto the canvas. As he does, he feels free from negativity. He feels truly tapped into the power of creativity.

As Day describes it, his work is about finding creativity in the chaos.

“We all have these distractions and interruptions,” he says. “Each one of us is trying to find that moment that God created you to be in. And once you do, then you can really unleash your incredible power and spirit in the world and change things around you. And art was that platform for me.”

Day’s art has stunningly sad origins in the tragedy of Sept. 11, 2001. Due to a schedule change, his wife (then fiancée) Aimee wasn’t in her office in Tower 2 of the World Trade Center that Tuesday morning. She wasn’t there when the tower fell. Nonetheless, the event hit Day hard. It changed his and Aimee’s lives forever. “It woke me up,” he says. And out of that chaos, he landed on a path to new meaning and purpose in life through painting.

Day has always felt an urge to be creative, but not necessarily as a painter. He sketched, performed in plays and played hockey. Overall, he struggled in school, coping with ADHD. But a few key teachers in his life offered ideas about harnessing and expressing his creative energy.

“Every one one of us has to find that path to really allow the spirit to be unleashed, and allow you to be you,” he says.

Day says he’s been fascinated by cultures, financial markets, architecture and more, and he has worked a variety of jobs. He served for two years in the Peace Corps in Tunisia, where he first felt he could transcend judgments and labels from Western culture, and lean into his creative spirit. As he puts it, “I was blinded by beauty and creativity.” He felt a vulnerability, but also an awakening.

Another awakening came on the day the towers fell.

For Day, painting is something of a release. He uses huge canvases and tools with the scale to manipulate the paint from edge to edge. When asked about the tools he uses — sponges, squeegees — he references his work as an architect working on job sites.

“I absolutely loved when walls were going up,” he says, describing drywallers finishing their walls with large tools. He would watch them bring depth and texture to the drywall surfaces. “It was like someone was dancing on [the] walls,” he says.

Since he began painting as a career, Day has created different series of paintings, including the “healing” series and the “midlife” series. He likens these series to chapters in a book. They are moments and themes that he’s connected, and there are many more. At age 48, he can hardly wait to see what he’ll create in another 10 or 20 years.

Often when he enters his studio, he says he still feels anxiety and nerves. Yet he strives to bring his spirit of creativity to the forefront. He opens the door, sits, meditates, prays and then paints.

“Every day I come into the studio and I believe I’m going to get to my destination, but I have to uncover a lot of this trauma, anxiety and expectations that are on me,” he says. “I’m trying to just ... ground myself, so I can walk in a way that is harmonious to the world around me.”

Day says that he makes the choice to move from that place of disrupting fear and chaos and into a place of peace.

“Disruptions big and small are here to change us,” he says. “It’s about choices, transitions. You have a choice to move through that or not.”

Will Day’s art is featured in public collections around Colorado and the country.

To view and purchase his latest works, schedule a visit to his Boulder studio, or view his website at willdayart.com. Watch Will Day’s Ted Talk at https://www.ted.com/talks/will_day_finding_creativity_in_the_chaos.

Monica Parpal Stockbridge writes about food, travel and technology in Colorado and beyond. Read more of her work at monicastockbridge.com.