Sunday, May 27, 2012

I GOTTA GET OUT OF THIS PLACE


Harvey is right.  I spend way too much time in my head, ruminating about everything and anything, but mostly about my art.  When I first began painting my biggest concern was that I be taken seriously, and not seen as some doctor dabbling in art on his days off.  I wanted my work to be “serious” art, although I had no idea what serious art was, and still don’t.  But for the most part I was comfortable doing what I did, thinking of myself as a storyteller with my drawings and paintings of city life.

Some thirty years later I find myself more unsettled than ever before, despite considerable improvement in my understanding and execution of my craft.  The questions abound.  What should I paint, large colorful landscapes, small drawings and sketches of the world around me, realistic pastels, abstract clay mono types, or meticulous architectural rendering with watercolor?  Shouldn’t I focus on developing my skills in one or two mediums, rather than working in all of them and being that Jack of all trades and master of none?   Theses concerns may seem silly to others, and I must admit that as I’m writing this, they seem rather ridiculous to me now.  But unfortunately they are very real.

The solution of course is obvious; paint whatever I want to paint, in whatever medium and whatever size I fancy, and throw out all the questions because they don’t matter.  And with that sentence I have experienced the therapeutic powers of journaling; the questions that haunted me 30 minutes ago no longer do so and I have managed to get out of my head…at least for a while. 

Yesterday's work:

 Roiled sky...acrylic in progress...24x48"

 Do you know where this is (in Paducah)?...pen, ink, markers...10x8"

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