Here is an excerpt from a book I am reading called "Art in the Twentieth Century" that I think really rings true about painting......
    " The problem of suffering is an eternal enigma that can be concealed under various disguises as
as well as revealed in it's true nature, but its reality strikes us at every moment.  I am certain that for
some of us this is much more deep-rooted feeling and represents a much heavier personal burden
than for others .  Perhaps I am doing nothing but attempting, as in primitive art, to exorcize suffering
by painting it."       *  Ben Shahn