Food for Thought

from Art & Soul: Notes on Creating by Audrey Flack:

"A work of art is the energy manifestation of the one who created it. It holds the spirit of the artist within its shapes, forms, and colors."

And therein lies its worth. I often think that the value in art is not so much the final product, but rather in the intent involved, effort exerted, and overall process of creation. This process affects changes within the artist that are either obviously or imperceptibly reflected in the way that the artwork changes over time. Since no two moments are the same and it's impossible to step into the same river twice, it stands to reason that the artist is a different person upon the completion of an artwork than they were at the start. The artwork becomes a record of the process.

Bunny Update & New Abstract

Today I worked more on the photorealist chocolate bunny. I focused on the head and ears, blending in the colors of the wrinkled foil. I thought it might be interesting to show the size of the brush I used - it's tiny! I love tiny brushes, because I love capturing as much detail as possible. You could say I'm addicted to detail, a characteristic evidenced in both my photorealist works and my abstract works.

I enjoy challenging myself, and I can say that this painting is a challenge based on the amount of detail involved in capturing all the minute lights and shadows created by the folds of the colored foil. It can seem daunting at first, when I stare at the photo and look at all the work involved. But once I start doing it, I always realize that the painting process really just involves breaking things down to tiny components and piling them on top of each other and next to each other until they look right.

I also started a new 12" x 12" abstract (above).

Candy and Flowers

My latest photorealist still life is a chocolate Easter bunny in its wrapper. I love the challenge of all the little wrinkles and reflections in this piece! Here is how it looks so far:




Today I finished the floral abstract commission that I started a couple of weeks ago. Tomorrow I'll photograph the final pieces, but in the meantime here is how they looked in-progress. These are 12" x 12".

How to See

I suspect that all the time I spend on art has had an impact on the way I literally view the world. I was thinking about this the other day as I took a walk along the beach. Making art is really time spent seeing and observing. With abstracts, it's a matter of making color, composition and design choices - looking at what's there and thinking of what to do next to create a balanced and interesting image. With photorealism, it's a matter of looking closely at an image, remembering what is there, and transferring the remembered image to the surface plane. Either way, it's a matter of looking and seeing what is actually there, cutting through such obstacles as mental clutter and preconceived notions of what one thinks should be there or wishes was there. So I was walking alone along the beach, immenesely enjoying the company of my surroundings... just looking at the different people - each person's unique appearance and mannerisms, the way they dress and hold themselves, what they were doing. The waves, the wind, the seagulls, boats and islands in the distance, fishermen, pelicans and herons. The variety of clouds, the color of the sky. I think spending so much time on art has increased my sensitivity to my surroundings, although that can also be attributed to inner growth and experiences, etc. a combination of things that are all inter-related. Anyway, just a thought I had one afternoon.