Showing posts with label studio habits. Show all posts
Showing posts with label studio habits. Show all posts

Monday, May 9, 2016

the refusal to be habit-ridden





“To be creative,....may mean nothing more than the refusal to be habit-ridden.”
Wolf Kahn
Think about it. To me, and I see WK agreed, to be a painter means that you are an explorer. Never satisfied with what you can do, you are forever searching. That said, you if you are genuinely searching you can't have a technique you rely on to create a certain effect. Even if you paint the same thing every day, the concept is different. 
I learned this long ago. When I was studying for my MFA I spent two full years painting a pot of yellow mums. Yes, I did have to keep buying new yellow mums when the fresh pot withered away completely, but it was always the same size yellow mums.  I can tell you I learned more in those two years painting those mums. I learned about painting and endless possibilities. I continue that work now as I paint the same block of trees, or the same soccer field near my house. Sometimes I feel like Magellan as he rounded Cape Horn and discovered the other side. 
What happens if I do this? 
I wonder......?

Sunday, December 30, 2012

studio gremlins and new years

6x6 memory painting, lake needwood
Artists work and create constantly. In order to not be static and continually push ourselves into new realms we constantly make some work we don't like. They are the path to discovery ....but they, themselves are lacking. Maybe you were working out color combinations or pushed a painting so far it went past its beauty. These are called studio gremlins. Do you really need your gremlins to haunt you next year?
In a little over 32 hours it is 2013....and that is time to burn the studio gremlins. Go through all your work, find the ones that you KNOW have to go and have a little burning ceremony.
I can't wait for New Years Day in the studio! Join me and let me know how it feels.
Happy New Year!