I thought that today would be a good time to clear out the paint studio. It's always nice to move around in a space without feeling you're going to break something, or fall over... besides, I bought a new plastic unit with four drawers, to keep my oil paints in, and it needed filling. So, I've moved things around, tidied up, thrown things out and generally been A Good Person.
Some of the time, I spent sitting still. I have 'Blue Goddess' up on the wall, and I'm not happy with it, at all. I've never been happy with things that I think are overly blatant, and I feel some of the marks that delineate the figure are just that. So, I sat with the painting, to see what it would tell me. It told me that there are some good parts of the painting, and they are not really anything to do with the title or 'subject' of the painting at all. And that perhaps pursuing those interesting parts, working from them out into the rest of the painting, would be A Good Thing. So, my studio is prepped for action, and it'll be interesting to see what comes out of these thoughts.
Painting, for me, is always a quick process. But there is much time spent sitting still, looking at the painting as it is, and wondering how to take it forward. I like this way of working. No deadlines, no stress, just a relationship with a painting, and a state of change.
1 comment:
The communication between the artist and a piece of one's own art is so fascinating, is it not? I took a week-long class from David Walker (before he quit teaching) and one of the best things he taught us was to have a real dialog with our art. Day 1, we were inspired and then began to create. Day 2 began by writing our art project a letter just as though it was our child. Day 3 was the clincher for me - we were to write a letter to ourselves FROM our art project! That, for me, was truly the beginning of respecting my work to tell me how to proceed.
And isn't it a lovely way to create?!
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