Saturday, April 19, 2008
New ingredient. :o) I'm not sure why it took me this long, since I've been using beach sand forever.
I'm trying to finish a painting that I intended to finish and list tomorrow, but the painting is having ideas of its own that I didn't anticipate, so my goals for the weekend might be somewhat different than originally planned.
I might just abandon the wayward art in favor of mind-expanding relaxation with my husband. If I'm not inspired and balanced, then smart-alec paintings are the least of my problems.
Of course today would be the first cloudy, cold looking day all week. Phooey.
Labels: balance, materials
Thursday, March 20, 2008
Colin and I have both been working on a ton of new art.
I'm not sure if it's the season changing around me or what, but I've been amping up my work. I'm trying to learn better ways of doing things, painting wise. Not that my previous ways weren't working for me, but I'm always anxious to make improvements where I can.
Part of the issue is just working on so many at once. I feel the need to do more and feel like my brain is stretched thin at the same time. I guess I'm trying to balance those things, so I can do more without losing my brain.
Specifically, I've been trying to take notes, and jot down ideas in my sketchbooks to better plan out my attack. If I can make decisions ahead of time, it will help eliminate errors. Often I decide to do something and then forget what I decided a few hours later because I was trying to be "spontaneous" with my creativity.
I'm also trying to have more paintings going at all stages of the process at any given time. Hopefully this will help close the long gaps between finished paintings, which I generally complete in groups. Right now I have 5 paintings almost finished, if you don't count the 2 bigger ones that I've been threatening to finish all month.
Production is key at the moment, so that I can both hang stuff in coffee houses and galleries *and* have more work in
my Etsy shop at the same time. (Madness!)
Labels: balance, business, education
Tuesday, November 27, 2007
I have a very distinct response from one painting to the next. Almost as if each new painting is some sort of answer to a previous one. Occasionally, when I'm being particularly productive, an entire group of paintings is an answer to something. The yellow-orange I use in one piece seems to directly influence the shades of teal I use in a different one.
I was reading this thing on intuitive painting once, and a lot of it seemed applicable to me. When I was first painting, every painting was intuitive, and I would sit and stare at the canvas after each step before deciding what my next step should be. Nowadays, since I have paintings all around me, the intuition comes out over a broader spectrum. Not that I don't still sit and stare at a painting before I decide what to do next. But now, I have a vague, fuzzy idea of how it will look when it's finished.
Constant exploration, though. I feel like I'm always trying to balance something through my art. I can't explain what that means, exactly, because it's more a feeling than anything else.
Just a feeling. A sway. Flow. Like jazz.
Labels: balance, circles, feelings, jazz, painting, teal
