Forever Yours
11 x 14
No, not everything is for sale, well, at least not my husband or cats :)
Just to answer a few questions I've been asked about my art...
When do you know when to stop?
How perfect does it have to be?
What difference does it make?
Are you obsessive about your art?
I can't "release it" if it's not right. I can let some parts of a painting remain “mooshed” and completely obsess over a strand of hair in another part. I can think I’m done, sign it and walk away from it. That sounds simple enough, doesn't it?
It's not, because the painting (or so it seems) will call me back to the easel, relentlessly at times. Time and time again. You might think I could choose to ignore it. The fact is, I can’t. It's the very thing that keeps me awake at night and what makes an eight hour drive seem like one. It’s that one thing in a painting that’s just not quite right...WHAT is IT? Is it the surface? Is it the value? the hue?...the message? chomp, chomp, chomp. It eats away until it gets what it wants; resolution on the canvas.
It's that inability to let it go that I hope, one day, will be what makes me a great artist in my own eyes and heart. Though I doubt I will ever know when (or if) that actually happens. I think there’s too much elusiveness in the creation of art to have a “there” moment. Art is ever-changing; it will never repeat itself and is never predictable. That’s the very reason art is so treasured and it is the essence of what makes it so valuable. After every piece, the artist stops doing that thing and starts doing another. Growing with one’s art, as in any relationship, is learning to understand and accept change and probably more than anything, embrace serendipity. It’s wonderful that as an artist I can have, and share, snapshots of that relationship in the form of paintings.
It's not, because the painting (or so it seems) will call me back to the easel, relentlessly at times. Time and time again. You might think I could choose to ignore it. The fact is, I can’t. It's the very thing that keeps me awake at night and what makes an eight hour drive seem like one. It’s that one thing in a painting that’s just not quite right...WHAT is IT? Is it the surface? Is it the value? the hue?...the message? chomp, chomp, chomp. It eats away until it gets what it wants; resolution on the canvas.
It's that inability to let it go that I hope, one day, will be what makes me a great artist in my own eyes and heart. Though I doubt I will ever know when (or if) that actually happens. I think there’s too much elusiveness in the creation of art to have a “there” moment. Art is ever-changing; it will never repeat itself and is never predictable. That’s the very reason art is so treasured and it is the essence of what makes it so valuable. After every piece, the artist stops doing that thing and starts doing another. Growing with one’s art, as in any relationship, is learning to understand and accept change and probably more than anything, embrace serendipity. It’s wonderful that as an artist I can have, and share, snapshots of that relationship in the form of paintings.
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