http://faso.com/fineartviews/38238/add-an-art-challenge-to-your-new-years-resolution-list
I read a wonderful article on Fine Arts Views a few weeks ago that was really eye-opening for me. It was called Add an Art Challenge to Your New Year’s Resolution List. I’m writing this in March, so better late then never, I suppose. The piece is about analyzing your work and writing about it. I find it important because I am in the process of attempting 52 paintings in 52 weeks. I am spending a lot of time trying to come up with compositions for my abstract paintings. I do not often critique my own in writing. I often just look and think, do I like it? I do not ever really sit down and analyze what I like. I tell myself, someone will like it even if I don’t 100% care for it. Not really the best attitude, I do not think.
I do try to be positive when writing a description and background of the pieces in my posts relating to the 52 Paintings project. But I don’t do a “post-mortem” as they say in publishing. Maybe it is time to add that to the list of things I already don’t do.
“Searching for words helps me understand what I am feeling. You will find that your understanding as well as your emotional response will deepen over time. You will begin to respond on multiple levels to your subject. You will begin to have a relationship with your subject.”
If I were to look back on the ten pieces that I have completed so far, I would have to say that I am truly happy with about half of them. Some of them seem too academic, like class projects. Some of them have great color, others not so much. I would prefer to have sold some to get a sense of what color palette is on demand, but that has not happened yet. When I try to create pieces in a certain color palette, I tend to feel a little constrained and go off course. When I do not have any idea what to do, I feel like I am aimlessly floating in a sea of possibilities. My focus in my painting is texture and color. Composition, yes, but not in a literal sense. It is hard to analyze composition when there really is none. I love the big piece I did and look forward to creating the next one. I will be ordering stretchers an canvas this week. I am trying to figure out whether to do a half woven one again. I think I will because I do really love the piece.
I wrote an artist statement in 2005 when I did the woven pieces. I spent many hours working on it with my dear friend Joan. The good news is that it really is as relevant now as it ever was. So I do plan on doing more post-mortem, maybe even as blog posts, but I really am in a good spot with the writing.
