I want to wish you all a happy, creative, and productive new year!
As promised in my last post (sorry to be so long), here are some things I tell myself when working on a painting…………..
Donna’s Notes to Self While Working on a Painting
• No judgements allowed – paint spontaneously and then respond.
• Only create work you love – pay no attention to what anyone else says of thinks.
• Who you are is found in what you love.
• Find and paint that thing that is your own.
• Explanation is the biggest obstacle to creative and personal painting.
• Creativity trumps accuracy.
• Make it ARTificial, not real.
• Don’t paint things, paint shapes, patterns, and relationships.
• Be willing (and even excited) to embrace the mistakes, missteps, and surprises that show up along the way.
• Every painting goes through an ugly adolescent stage – don’t worry, just keep going.
• A painting is always about the artist rather than the subject that inspired it.
And, here’s one more thing I’m adding to my list in 2018…………
• Take more risks – make your paintings more controversial.
The inspiration for that last note came from a book I’ve been re-reading recently – Finding Your Personal Voice, by Dakota Mitchell – where the author recounts the advice a friend gave her that helped her move past her hesitancy to paint less realistically and more expressively: “I don’t think anyone taught Jackson Pollock to paint that way. I think you should be controversial.” I love that!
Happy Painting in 2018!