Wednesday, November 29, 2006

We Live and Learn



Some things I just have to learn the hard way. Quality materials lead to quality results, and the reverse is true. I used a cheap $1 water color paper as the support for this painting start and it buckled and wimped out on me half way through. I know I should have gone for the canvas. But I was cheap. And:

The stingy man pays the most.
(
Tom and Ray Magliozzi, NPR's Car Talk)

I will begin again on a quality canvas, and take my time and do better. I will.

Now a bit of an explanation
I taught myself to paint when I was a kid. I did pretty good and got better as I grew older. I wanted to make sure that all the adults thought I was an artist and I put a lot of time and effort into proving that. These were the days when kids were left alone to amuse themselves, no lessons, barely any materials and little or no adult involvement.
A kid could
1. get bored 2. get into trouble 3. go out and play 4. find an interest and really be able to discover the possibilities, on her own.

As a painter I wanted to make realistic pictures to validate my skill. I was deep into approval-seeking.
Now however, I am not interested in realism, kinda been there, done that. And having a 25 year career of quilting under my belt, I know that design is more interesting to me anyway, so why not incorporate it into the painting arena?
But that's not quite the whole story.
Paintings that are non-objective are so intriguing to me because I can't figure out how to get there from here. Or at least I couldn't before. Now I think I am getting closer and that is sooooo thrilling! It is like a treasure hunt, and while I am not sure what the treasure is, I definitely am on the right path to finding it.
A non-objective painting is like pure emotion. The strength that I found revealed in Orbits #1 and #2 was such a surprise to me. I didn't know I had it in me.
And when you put that kind of an image on canvas or paper, it brings with it the experience of the moment of creation. It is almost alive.
And the image is born for the first time, unlike anything else on earth or in our imaginings.

6 comments:

  1. I'm liking the Orbit series, especially the color one. I guess you will have to paint it again on a canvas.

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  2. Anonymous8:38 AM

    One can't tell about the paper buckling, etc. It looks great to me. What is interesting from afar is that I see similar path to your quilts here.

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  3. Good guess Rhonda, since I was painting the image of a quilt I have already made (and sold last year). Big mistake. It closes the door on coming up with something new. I just liked the colors so much and soon I found I was repeating myself. Death!
    Back to the drawing board.

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  4. Funny, I was thinking of how this painting reminded me of your quilts and lo and behold, there is a strong influence. I guess I love this piece because I love your design and coloring. Can't see the buckling.

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  5. Anonymous1:05 PM

    You can probably still save your painting.
    http://www.artistsmagazine.com/article.asp?id=2381

    Also, you can use cheaper papers, but if you aren't really good at stretching (like me), it's hard to avoid buckling (unless you use the 300 weight that I prefer - but that is expensive for larger paintings). You might want to try a block. That's what I usually use. The downside is that you can only work on an many paintings at a time as you have blocks. Then again, it's great for making one complete projects. These are my favorite. Not cheap, but definitely cheaper than canvas.
    http://www.dickblick.com/zz100/20/

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  6. Tashina, thank you very much, and please will you email me privately, see sidebar for addresss.

    ReplyDelete

Hello,
So nice of you to drop by. I love your comments, and if you would really like a reply, please email me at fibermania at g mail dot com