Friday, January 3, 2014

New "Eyes", New Work

The other day I was going through the photos on my computer, deleting duplicates and bad images etc. I came across some images of the first pieces I painted in my Forgotten Memories series. These were dated 2009. I remember being excited back then about my new work and I was proud of myself for challenging my skills and painting people, something I had never done before. It was a turning point in my career as an artist and it is because of these pieces that I have shown in so many galleries.

I, fortunately, do not have any of these paintings still in my studio. They have all been sold and are living in someone else's home. Because of this, I haven't really had a chance to look back at these pieces and reflect on them. I never really felt the need to look at the old photographs, either. It wasn't until I did that I realized how far my work has come. I realize that my skills have improved tremendously, which shouldn't be so surprising since back then I had never painted people before and now I have been doing it for five years (WOW, five years? Has it really been THAT long???). But what shocked me was how much I have changed as an artist, and by this I don't mean my subjects or my techniques. My skills have change (for the better) and more importantly, how I see things and what I find "acceptable" as a finished product has changed. A LOT. I look at these older pieces and I see so much that I could have improved. I see so many mistakes. I see so many things that could be worked on that I NEVER noticed back them. This is not my being over-critical about my past and thinking everything I've done now sucks. Some of the pieces are quite good. But what I deemed as good or acceptable back then for most of those early pieces clearly isn't okay anymore.

It's natural to grow and change as we get older and continue to make art. I think over the years I have definitely matured as an artist. My "eyes" have improved along with my skills and I can see better now. It's nice to look back every once and awhile and see this growth. It's not something you can do too often since it takes time for growth to happen and to be apparent. But now that I have seen it, I am so happy with my progress and even happier with where my art is now going.

Here are the first five pieces of my yet to be titled series. I hope you like what you see and feel free to comment about them on my blog.
"Pretty in Pink", 36"x36"
oil and encaustic wax on panel

Untitled: Blue, 36"x36"
oil and encaustic wax on panel

"Smile for the Camera", 20"x16"
oil and encaustic wax on panel

Untitled:Yellow, 20"x24"
oil and encaustic wax on panel


"Fleur de Lys" 30"x24"
oil and encaustic wax on panel

No comments:

Post a Comment