Covid-19 has certainly changed so many things. Many people, including myself, have paused to take stock of their lives and what is important. Have you done that too?
Making art and my involvement in my local art community has kept me busy and engaged with life. I am grateful for both. I have recently completed a series of ‘flower’ paintings. Here are a few with more under Florals in the Portfolio section of the website. Have you ever heard of selling art at the price set by the purchaser instead of the artist? It's call "Pay What You Want" (PWYW) and I am checking out the details of this process. If it looks like it might work, then I will be offering some of my paintings using this method.
Basically, you the purchaser make an offer to purchase and that's what I sell it to you for. I would make shipping and handling extra. The piece I would like to include is that proceeds from the sale of the artwork would go to a specified charity. For me, that would be an agency that supports children in need but I would be open to using the purchaser's favourite charity. What do you think about this approach? Would you be interested? Let me know in the comments below. Paintings evolve - from the early brush strokes, through a tricky middle and onward to the final, and most challenging finish.
What to ask myself when I get to that mid-point? I get totally stopped in my tracks - I may or may not like what I see in front of me and I know that doesn't really matter - how do I move on? Here'a a question from my Connected Artist Club group... What NEEDS to be here? What is necessary? What do I need to eliminate to show you the most important part? "Frustrating" is the word I would use to describe this week. I've been painting over old paintings and it's hard! It so much easier to start with a white canvas than to start with old images. However, by the end of the week I was starting to work through some of the problems and find my way. I must confess that there were a few pieces that ended up in the trash, torn to bits!
It's clean up time - tidy the studio, sort through old paintings and drawings, decide what to keep, what to paint over and what to dump in the trash! There are so many paintings that I like - so I've decided to have a sale from my website. More details next week!
Here's some of the sorting process in action! And some of the set up to get back to work. This week is Module 4 of Finding Your Voice workshop and it's all about colour - saturated, dull, warm, cool, dark and light - COLOUR! Here are some unfinished pieces - just to see where I've started. I'll post the completed pieces next week (hopefully). These are 22x30, marked off with painter's tape into two, but painted as one - at least so far. I think I'll strip off the tape today and see what I have. The next images are of paintings that I think are closer to completion, and are about 11x15. Thank you for visiting my website - I'd love to hear which paintings speak to you.
The goal of Module 3 (Find Your Voice) is to focus on composition - what is that?? and does it need to be predetermined or can it just unfold as the painting evolves? Basically, what do I want to say, what do I want you to look at? That's a hard question to answer... as I discovered. I decided to continue working on last week's B&W paintings, evaluating the composition of each and pushing them further. What I discovered is that I am becoming more aware of liking some elements and not liking others... sounds simple doesn't it? and most importantly, being willing to risk it all and paint over huge areas. These are NOT finished - just works in process. This week's work was all black and white - which forces the focus to be on contrast, with the highest contrast being where the eye will go. I'm not finished with these as they all need more work on composition, but I think they all meet the goal of creating high contrast areas (the loud conversation) and low contrast areas (the quiet conversation). Some of the paintings started with a white background and some with a black background. Can you tell which one? Have you ever wondered why creatives create - writers, actors, musicians, and... of course, artists? If you ask that question, you'll get as many answers as people you ask - of course! Each person has their own reasons.
Why do I paint? That's a question I've been pursuing for a long time, and even more so as part of the workshop I am taking with Louise Fletcher - Find you Joy and Find you Voice. I paint/create things because I need a way to express myself, a way to challenge myself and a way to keep learning - about my 'self' and about the world around me. Painting encourages me to pay attention to what I see, touch, feel, experience. That is the source of my inspiration. To be honest, I also love the recognition I get from sharing my work with other people. I particularly love the connection that happens when my work resonates with another soul. I want my art to be more than 'decor'; I want to connect with you. Here's a rather dark abstract landscape that I really love. Does it connect with you? Thank you for visiting my website! Wow - it's been a month since my last post! My excuse - I've been travelling in Switzerland and France - hiking, wine tasting, visiting with friends. And when I got home, I had a week to finish up my paintings for the annual Paddlewheel Park art show which was last Sunday. It was an enormous success - for our club, for the 54+ artists who exhibited and for me - I sold 5 paintings! Although I really prefer working in abstract, I found my canvases turning into landscape, albeit somewhat abstract. Here's what that looks like. Your comments are always gratefully received! |
Categories
|