New Work: Here and Gone

Here and Gone
11" x 14" painted acrylic papers on wc paper

This appears to be my only completed piece for April. Not too surprising I guess. This month seems to have gotten busy and what free time I did have hasn't been spent very efficiently. 

This piece was started just after I returned from Palm Springs and was finished late last week. I am reading a book by Carl Zimmer called Evolution: The Triumph of an Idea. It's a good read, a little over my head in spots, but overall very understandable. I am currently reading about the extinction of species: why it happens, how it happens, and its general impact. It's disturbing, to say the least.  So, some of the shapes above are inspired by my reading and some of the shapes also came from sketches that I have done this month and last. The sketches are fun because they use bits and pieces of leftover shapes. I never know what is going to appear or if the sketches will prompt something in my larger, finished pieces. Making art is sort of like chain smoking (at least I imagine it is). One cigarette or idea begets the next, and so on.

In other news, I sold two paintings to a friend of mine. They are older pieces which I really like and I am happy that they have gone to a great home. Though I enjoyed this series and feel like it helped me to get used to working with shapes and color, I just wasn't sure how to continue doing it. Looking for landscape ideas was not working for me and I couldn't see how to expand on what I was doing. Fortunately, I think it was at about this time that I started learning about Matisse and his paper cut outs. And though I know that most people I interact with like landscapes and relate to them better, I also know that the genre just isn't for me. I would much rather appreciate them and marvel at the painters who make them rather than try to make one myself. I do believe strongly in listening to your creative ideas even if they don't sell or aren't liked as well by friends and family members. Unless your living depended on making a specific type of art, what would be the point otherwise?

OK, I am kind of excited. I ordered some art supplies (paper) and I haven't done that in awhile. I am going to try out some new marking pens. I have been enjoying my little pen sketches so much and have been adding color to them but my markers are not quite what I want. (They are Crayola kids markers and are fine for having fun but I would like to try an artist grade product.) I have also been painting some papers to use in future work. This takes a little bit of time to do. So, just kind of putzing around I guess.

Hope everyone has had a good and productive month. Thanks for reading and commenting.

Libby