I had a meeting with the wonderful Twig Murray from the NVFAA today. She came all the way out to me to have a second look at my work and, hopefully, convince her colleagues to put together a show of the work. It is such a blessing to see her enthusiasm for art and for my art in particular. She also gave me really good criticism, as well.
It is a strange experience to have all of my work on front me. There are a handful of paintings that I still feel are unfinished though they have been hanging around for awhile. This one hangs in my hallway, so I see it often. I have never felt it was complete, so I took it to the easel to see what to have a good look at it. The first thing I noticed was how off the drawing is. I did this one two years ago and my drawing skills are radically better, so the entire head has to be re-stated. My natural tendency is to exaggerate reality because I like the way it looks, but I wasn't aiming for that on this one back then. At first I had an "oh, crap, I just ruined this" moment, but I am going to keep working at it because I believe in the idea.
I am also going to return to this one at some point. I want to bring a few things up and take a few down.
4 comments:
I'll keep as many appendages crossed for luck for you until such time that I need to get something done. I have a good feeling with someone as enthusiastic as Twig (great name) on your side, you will get that show.
Hi Tracey!
I'm happy for you that the meeting with Twig was productive. My intuition tells me good things will come from this.
One of the things that I really like about these two paintings is that both animals look happy...as if they are smiling, knowingly, about something good.
I'm realizing how different my artwork looks on different monitors, so am never sure whether I'm seeing the "full" picture on other sites. I love the lower painting, and agree with you about the top. Your rendering skills between the top and your new work have sharpened. My abstract instructor always says "move on. Older paintings are where you were then." But I think when you've put so much into a piece, it's impossible not to resolve it if you think you need to.
Congrats on the meeting! I wish I weren't so housebound these days and could travel to see your work hanging.
Tracey!
The thing I love most about these two older paintings is that both animals appear at peace, almost happy....and yet are in a very dark, almost depressing background.
Such a unique contrast of moods. Fantastic job with that!
Of the two paintings, I like the top one the best. I think it's all the colors in the fur and the red striping (is that blood!) on its horns.
Thanks for posting some of your earlier work!
-Dean
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