Oil on Linen - 16x12"
How much did you stretch this year? Did you inch carefully out of your comfort zone or take a bold and daring leap? Will artistic growth be a priority in 2013?
I love this time of year because it always inspires me to reflect on the year past and set my sights on where I want to soar to in the coming year.
Know Where There's Room for Growth
This painting is a great example of where I am limited and how I want to grow. The end result was not what I intended. I wanted loose, painterly passages of thick and thin, expressive brushwork, an abstract quality up close. I got tight, controlled, careful, contained, photographic. I was playing it safe and it held me back from 'finding out'. It always will - can't have it both ways. Dammit. :-)There are things I love about this painting, but I want something more for it. So I'm going to take another run at it and overshoot for loose, see what happens. An experiment in stretching with a focus on non-attatchment. Will let you know how it goes.
Once You're Clear - Embrace the Challenge With an Open Heart
There is value in finding a way to be in joy with a painting whatever shows up - while still keeping your eye on a higher bar. There is no value in feeling angst and frustration if what you're doing isn't where you want to be, and yet we all succumb to this occasionally.What I have found is the more willing I am to carve out painting time that is focused on nothing but growth - no commercial or ego demands at play - the more at ease I feel with my results, whatever they are. And the more connected I become with the knowledge that becoming a skillful painter is a journey that has no end.
