Boy, you guys might be in luck. I had this pretty long post about what I have been doing and I somehow deleted the WHOLE damn thing - there may have been tears.
So, here is my second go.
I have been having this nagging feeling that I need to explain my new work. For those of you who have only recently been following me (2 or 3 years) this new work probably seems wildly different. But, in reality, I think it's been a 10+ year journey circling back to work I did in college. Or, maybe, I'm just in a sweet spot of finding myself with little consequence because I have no gallery representation and no collectors? Either way, the work I have bee doing the last few weeks has been some of the most inspired work I have done in years.
I have created close to 60 new pieces in the last few weeks. A mix of encaustics and these fun little drawings (like the one above, which my 17 month old helped me with). Eventually I will combine these two ideas, but until then I am doing some more work on larger papers and re-gesso-ing some larger canvases that have old, shitty unfinished paintings on them.
These new pieces are abstract and l am loving it. Going thru old work from college, I found that the abstract pieces were my strongest work. Which is crazy to me, because at the time I thought they were trash! Hindsight. Also, I was going thru some drawings from a few years ago of these women. The pieces themselves are not great, they don't stand up in my opinion, BUT, the hair is the strongest part aesthetically. Instead of trying to force my images to be something recognizable, why can't I just take the pieces that work out and run with them? The movement of the hair is what I love about those works. So, here I am.
I guess I needed to feel like I had permission to change what I was doing? I mean, something stopped me from getting to this nugget of inspiration, right?
Recently, I went to a show by Jane Wunrow called Seeing Voices at Gamut Gallery (which is such a fun and funky gallery, if you're in Mpls I highly suggest checking them out). Her work is huge and stunning and dynamic. I decided to go hear her artist's talk - I was told this body of work was inspired by dreams and her migranes, of which I also get, so I was interested immediately - and I was so glad I did! I mean, listening to this mom of 3, who suffers from migrane, talk about her practice and what led to this show was so inspiring to me. It seriously lit something creatively for me. She mentioned that she too had tended to do realism, didn't much care for abstract, yet somehow started making this incredible abstract work. I felt like she was telling me that it is ok to change direction.
Like I said earlier, I think I needed to explain this change. Maybe just to further validate it to myself. I just know that there is so much work coming out of me right now, I'm running out of places to store them in my house! I mean, seriously, if you are interested in anything please let me know! Hint hint, nudge nudge. ;)
Wow, again, this ended up being longer than I intended. I did save this thing periodically, so, we wouldn't have a repeat accidental deleting.