Monday, November 15, 2010

From Digging Out to Digging In...

I have so many supplies! Putting them away has been a formidable task. I'm supposed to be a painter, an artist, not an organizer of things. So I have shoveled a hole into the middle of my pile of art supplies, pulled out the necessary equipment and set out to paint my five paintings for the day. "Set out"... apparently, "setting out" to do something and actually accomplishing it are on two different planes of reality. Five canvasses, "Check". Paint,"Check". Brushes, "Check". Ideas, inspiration, motivation... Not so easy. I'm ready to paint. My mind is there. The tools that are necessary are there. I have an idea in my head as to what I want to paint. Honestly, I don't want to be full of excuses as to why I'm not painting, but all the pictures from my last "photo safari" are on another computer 1500 miles away. I just don't have access to them right now. Before you yell at me for coming up with an excuse let me continue with this current line of thought. I can tell the difference, especially in my own work, but even in the work of others. Thomas Kinkade! Those cottages don't exist. They never have existed. They never will exist. I can tell and I HATE them. In my own work I can spot when I fudge something. The way the light is hitting the trees, the way the land meets the water, The sky; these things are glaring to me. I am not even a realist, but I want what I paint to be a literal translation of what I see, through me own eyes, filtered through my own unique perspective, and put forth onto canvas by whatever ability I have. 

So, where then do I get the subject matter for my work? This morning I went online. I searched the internet for photos of the Cape. I live in such a beautiful place, but sometimes, when you see it through another's perspective the images just don't move you as much. In fact, looking at them today, they seemed almost contrived or cliched. When you use pictures that you take yourself, there are a number of things that linger in your mind that the film just doesn't pick up. Colors for example, I have an excellent memory for the colors that I see, and when I see them live and in person, I actually calculate the layering of different colors that I would use to get a similar effect on the canvas. For some reason that sequence stays in my mind, and when I see the photo again, I am able to recall it. Without this I'm stumped as to what to do. Until then, I'm going to stop my bitching, keep digging and find a few images that I can use.
Yes, I'm stealing images off of the internet, but for self improvement purposes, so I've justified it in my own mind. I hope that that does not offend you.

There are a few more hours in this day and I will continue to work until I feel that I've used them appropriately. So wish me luck. I will show you the results whether I like them or not in a future post. Until then, take care of yourselves.

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