View From The Clearing
7 x 7"
oil and acrylic on canvas
sold
This is a 7x7 acrylic on canvas painting I did this summer when I was at the Kenderdine Campus. It was done on a windy afternoon when a few of us went over to paint on Fairy Island. I found a clearing near the water's edge and began to paint a cluster of water logged trees, but that didn't go very well so I began painting just one water logged tree thinking I needed to simplify the composition. Well, that didn't go well either so I looked up and started on the clouds; covering up the second tree painting. But, like I said, it was quite windy and those clouds were a-movin'! So the original sky I started painting changed every time I looked up and eventually became what you see here; a simplified quirky study of shapes with (hopefully) a moody, yet vibrant atmosphere. The curator was really drawn to it the day she came over, so it will be in the show and I am hoping to come up with possibly another painting along these lines that we can pair it with.
A comment was left for me a few posts ago by a talented artist, Deborah Ross, who has been blogging for almost 2 years. Lately she has been doing some really neat stamp and collage pieces that really get me excited. She first posted these experiments on Sept.20 and has done a few more since then. Anyway, she left me a message saying that I should take the word beginner out of my "About Me" profile because, in her words, "girl, you're no beginner". Well, it got me wondering, how you decide when you are not a beginner anymore? I really, really feel like a beginner. Really. I have loved art my whole life, but there is so much I don't know and have to learn; want to learn. So much. I read other artists' blogs and sometimes have never even heard of the things they are talking about. I feel like I am in serious student mode right now, but then, will there ever be a time in my life that I don't feel like that? Especially when I love learning? Do I think I am a beginner because I still think of myself as a student? So at what point do you take that word out of your vocabulary when you are describing who you are? Is it after you have amassed a certain size portfolio? Or when you have sold a certain number of paintings? Or maybe when you feel you have something to teach instead of learn? Is it after you have a BFA, or a Masters or maybe it's once you have collectors? Is it once you have had a certain number of shows? Has it got to do with confidence? I just don't know. Do you?
Comments and insight are always welcome!
