Questions to ask...
New Beginnings...
I also really enjoyed letting loose with drawing and using dry media a lot more in my paintings when I was working on the large sized paintings. This added a playful looseness which I really liked and prevented me working in a straight-line towards finishing when after each painting session I would draw and scribble over the painting. Coming back into it the next day I would cover a lot of the drawing over but the little remnants that peeped through were really fun suggesting a naivety which I liked.
Finishing a Painting II
Is there ‘Precious’ in your Studio?
Finally, the insistent call of the outside world drags us away and we close the studio door on that tangled grid-locked mess of paint, hope, and self-belief. As we square up to the dishwasher and the dusting that secret smile is now a nagging sense of dread. Am I good enough? Why can’t I figure this out? I’ve killed my precious ….
Finishing a Painting
Learning to make Art without Fear
Be Battle-Ready with your Painting Process
Is Your Art "GOOD ART"?
Recently a student in my stARTs course reached out to me for some feedback regarding her work. She wanted to know if it was ‘good’. BIG QUESTION. I remember so clearly being at the stage she is at now. Working tirelessly on improving my work and finding my ‘style’. I liked parts of it but was dissatisfied with so much of it and was struggling to find a process that gave me the results that I loved.
How to make my paintings more like ME
IN the past this question was my starting point. And also my finishing. I had no idea what sort of art I wanted to do. I had some sort of notion that I should be expressing something earth shattering or at least an original take on some serious notion that most probably has been tackled before. It stifled me from the get go. What did I have to say that hadn’t been said before and probably better. I had no idea, but I made art anyway. The problem was I was a harsh critic, and I saw right through my flimsy endeavours. There were some paintings I liked, and some that others liked and bought, but all the time I knew that really I was faking it. I had no idea what to produce next, and no driving urge to unleash my soul on the canvas like the ‘real’ artists.