marla baggetta's interview, part one

Imagine painting this!!!!??? It's one of Marla's recent paintings. The minute she finished it and put it in a frame it  sold. She painted it after her series of "100 variations," a series many of us enthusiastically  followed. When we spoke it was the nucleus of our talk. Post by post I will reveal what Marla said.

Here is just the beginning:

me- I have watched your work for a long time, before the 100 Variations and after the 100 Variations. Would you please talk about the metamorphoses you experienced both in process and personally?

Marla- Before the Variations I didn't do much mixed media. My work was predominantly representational- pastelist's pastels. By doing the 100 Variations I felt so opened up, cracked open. I would now try anything with pastel. Nothing was precious. I was no longer trying to make something to see, I was just curious- what could  I make work? I tried so many things- oil, pastels into wet oil,  and monoprinting, to name a few. Anything goes. I would dig, scratch, and scrub.
I would just start and respond. I would not set out to do, say, a winter scene. Instead I thought how many times can I switch the color and value and still make it work? I wasn't thinking it, I was responding.
Now, I have more detail coming back in... but I feel I have that feeling of responding. It changed everything. A transformation.

me- I look at your new work, like "Evening Fire" (pictured above) and I see how different they are.

Marla- Variations gave me permission to do whatever I want to do. I used to feel I had to do a "Marla Baggetta." Now there are a whole bunch of Marla Baggettas and there is a thread that carries through them. Before I never would have painted colors like you see in Evening Fire.

me- What advice would you give to another artist reading this?

Marla- Galleries want the artist to have a consistent body of work. But remember you can do a lot of different things for yourself. Try everything you want. Paint everything. Give yourself PERMISSION.