The wonderful thing about being an artist is that you make a work and then get to enjoy it. What is truly spectacular is when someone else 
enjoys it too and so much so, that they want to buy it. So you aim well and work hard and voila!, repeat. There is one itsy bitsy problem though: the emotional attachment. Maybe I should say emotional investment. Either way, there are times when we've poured our heart out or made a very self conscious effort of expressing ourselves and the hopes for that work tend to blind us to the reality of what's really going on visually.
enjoys it too and so much so, that they want to buy it. So you aim well and work hard and voila!, repeat. There is one itsy bitsy problem though: the emotional attachment. Maybe I should say emotional investment. Either way, there are times when we've poured our heart out or made a very self conscious effort of expressing ourselves and the hopes for that work tend to blind us to the reality of what's really going on visually. Take, for example, the painting above, titled "and then some". It's bright and obvious and gets your attention for a minute, but it totally fails. How do you fix something like this without a complete redo?
In this case, you take it to an artist friend and have him paint on it for a while and then when you get home you add great big balls of color. When I finished with the balls of color I took it back to Corky's, hung it in his gallery and had a great laugh at myself. And, as is the case whenever one artist offers a painting for an opinion, we had a discussion of what could be done to salvage this masterpiece.
It's hung over my desk, it's hung in the bedroom on several walls, but the more I view it, the more comfortable it feels. It almost seems right. And in a way it's a classic example of my work. Am I blinded by my emotional investment ?
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In general this painting works for me now, but as with some other paintings, upon closer inspection you can find some really ugly passages. There are times of much study and planning as to how to improve it and then there is an equal amount of time where it gives me pleasure and a good laugh.
Your comments would be welcome !
2 comments:
Wow, I so get what you are talking about. When I'm working on a painting I have finally learned (after many years) to do the work, then walk away for a few hours and then look again as if I had never seen it before. Things in the work glare at me and say "wrong" and "please fix me". When I listen to that voice and change or repair the areas that need work something wonderful happens and my heart opens up and fills the void that those empty places in the work that needed fixing. When I work it becomes quite easy to let go because for me the work is the journey and the art and once it is finished I no longer own it. Perhaps this is because I am a musician. Music is a very "now" thing. Once a note is played it is gone. I'm adding your wonderful blog to my list of blogs. Thanks for sharing with all of us.
Thank you for your insight. You made a great point about letting go and then seeing it cold again.
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