‘A change is as good as a rest’
At the beginning of the year I selected three paintings for submission to an Art Society Show.
They were accepted and are now hanging in the Usher Gallery, Lincoln until 21 April.
They are larger than my previous landscape work and quite abstract in style.
It is interesting how viewers react...suddenly face to face with change.
‘Spring grass and blue skies’
This week I read an article by painter Louise Fletcher.
It was just what I needed to see and I found it encouraging.
Here are Louise’s words..taken from her website: www.louisefletcherart.com.
“What kind of art do you make, then?” asked an elderly man I met while I was out walking my dog.
“I paint abstract landscapes,” I said.
“Just daubs then,” came the response and then – predictably – “I like things to look like what they’re supposed to look like.”
I get this. I really do.
I used to paint representationally. I enjoyed doing it and people responded favourably.
But there came a point where that just wasn’t enough anymore.
I wanted to express more than just what a field looks like, what a sky looks like, what a stone wall looks like. I wanted to express how it feels to be me. I wanted to create my own visual language. I wanted to explore paint. I wanted to explore myself.
Of course making a change like that means people drop away. Some of the people who loved my representational paintings don’t like this new work – some of them say that out loud, others just disappear quietly.
When that happens, I have a choice. I can retreat back to what’s safe and what’s easy for people to understand – or I can keep going, pushing into new territory and trust that new people will find me and my work.
It strikes me that this is what happens when we grow in any area of our lives – some people come along with us, others fall away. As we watch them go, it can be tempting to reach out and try to hold on – or to go backwards and act like we used to just to keep things as they were.
But the right answer is always to keep moving forwards and to trust that the right people will find us.
It is a dilemma.
Do we want to keep other people happy?
Or do we want to be true to ourselves?
Here is quote from David Bowie...
“Never play to the gallery. Never work for other people in what you do. Always remember that the reason you initially started working was there was something inside yourself that, if you could manifest it, you felt you would understand more about yourself. I think it’s terribly dangerous for an artist to fulfill other people’s expectations”.
I love change.
It challenges me to discover myself.
I wrote this list some time ago.
The Art of Discovery...
Growing
Making mistakes
Learning by Doing
Moving on
Taking risks
Trying new ideas
So there it is...if I take risks with new ideas,
and make mistakes as I work,
I will learn from them and move on,
growing stronger as I discover what I can achieve.
Not bad for a wet Tuesday afternoon.
Good wishes to all artists out there.
Happy painting.
