WORKING IN MULTIPLE MEDIA

Delancy Place watercolor 12x60" '07

For 15 years my only medium was watercolor. In retrospect that was not surprising, living in Wilmington, Delaware, in the thick of the Brandywine tradition of the Wyeths where watercolorists greatly outnumbered the oil and acrylic painters. That was in the ‘70s and ‘80s. For the past several years I have been working in no less than 5 different mediums plus mixed media, two of these occasionally, and the rest on an ongoing basis.

I sometimes have misgivings about this practice, thinking that I’m spreading myself too thin and that galleries and dealers want to see more consistency in an artist. But I’ve come to realize that the only consistency that matters to me is the quality of the work, not the medium or the “style”.

My choice of a medium is determined by the subject and purpose of the painting, watercolor for urban landscapes and architectural portraits, acrylic for large, colorful, imaginative landscapes, pastels for tonal, moody rural landscapes, oil for more traditional landscapes, and clay mono types for abstract and otherwise nonrepresentational work. Oil pastels fall somewhere in between all of this, and the mixed media-collage-constructions are in a class my themselves.

Because of this approach visitors to my gallery will comment on my differen” styles”, but it is not a matter of my consciously choosing a style. It is the choice of the medium that dictates the resulting image. I cannot do with one medium what I do with the others. Does that make any sense?!




Hill Top series II clay mono type 15x32".

There is no guarantee that this will be the case 6 months from now, but hey, that’s what is so great about making art!

Wrestling with my art...2

Am I blessed or cursed with an insatiable desire to work in multiple mediums? For the past 10 years I have worked, often simultaneously, with clay mono typing, pastels, oil pastels, watercolor, acrylics, oil, and mixed media. It is not unusual for me to have 2, 3, or even 4 pieces of work in progress, each in a different medium. When asked which is my favorite I answer, ‘the one in which I’m currently working’.

Visitors to my gallery are surprised when they learn all the work is by one artist because the “styles”, and frequently the subject matter, are so different. The truth is, I do not consciously choose a style. The style is like ones handwriting, it basically selects itself, and with my art, it is the medium and the subjects that determines my approach. My architectural paintings in watercolor are primarily very tight and constrained, while my larger acrylic landscapes are usually very loose and intuitive. The pastels fall somewhere in between the two.

I enjoy working as I do, and will probably continue to do so. But my enjoyment would be much greater if I could learn how to stop second guessing myself. With nauseating regularity I ask myself, “am I limiting my development by spreading myself over too many mediums, and, wouldn’t I have a better chance at gaining gallery representation if I limited my work to one or two mediums”? When I prepare a portfolio to send to a gallery I have to decide what medium will I show them, the landscapes on canvas, ot the abstract clay mono types, or perhaps the pastels on paper. (It is my understanding that when reviewing portfolios galleries look for consistency in an artist’s work and are less impressed with a portfolio of work showing a wide variety of style, subject matter, and media.)

It has been 5 years since I left my medical practice and have been able to devote all of my time to art. In the past few years I have grown increasingly comfortable with my approach to my art and spend less time second guessing myself, at least as it relates to working in multiple mediums. But fear not, I have an abundance of other questions and issues with which to wrestle, and they all make for future postings.