Sometimes try as we might, a painting isn’t what we hoped. I had a feeling that this painting wouldn’t be my favorite. I didn’t feel well yesterday and today even after going for a lovely walk in the forrest I couldn’t shake the blues.
I tried a couple of compositions but I didn’t love them. I made a delicious meal. I tried a couple more compositions. Didn’t love them. I watched a movie. Then I decided to throw all reservation to the wind. I painted this:
Seeing it now I can see things about it that I like and things I dislike. When I began this painting I decided to focus on making the wood look more realistic. I like the progression of wood grain. Maybe tomorrow I will like the painting more. Or maybe I won’t. And that’s OK.
I enjoy the practice of painting even when the painting doesn’t thrill me in the end. It’s about the practice, the process of painting.
Remember Reflect Reform
In this work, I have been exploring phenomena of memory augmentation. I experimented with reflections and cinematic images by juxtaposing photographs, paint, wood, and mylar. The direction of the work includes painting intimate, reflective, observations of augmented memories.
I began by building a cabinet of curiosities as a way to form a tableau painting and experiment with different media. Inspired by the relief paintings by artist Sally Han, I built a model of a Victorian cabinet using tenets of Darwin's theory of evolution. I painted on a variety of surfaces including wood, photographs, and adding raw lumber to the pieces. In this process, I disassembled the cabinet to give autonomy to each piece. Although I diverted from the original idea of a final installation, there was an impulse to paint larger. Adding mylar was yet another way to accentuate reflection as a part of the critical dialogue with the work. The final result offers an opportunity to remember, reflect, and reform.
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