Thursday, May 31, 2007

thoughts about art and its process

Over at The Colourguru there is some pretty awesome art work to take a look at.

One of the things that caught my eye was a bit on the side of the blog that talks about the process of making art. The question being posed was rather it is the striving for quality or the continuous process of quantity that makes for great art.

The conclusion was that we must keep DOING to grow and that it is that growth that makes great art.

I have felt for the last week that I was pretty much stuck on most levels, and consequently have not accomplished much. There is a major economic component to this situation, but there is also something else that is part of the mix.

For a while now I have tried to work on pieces that are something that I think I can sell.

With the animals this is definately true as I have long since stepped out of the "I'm a collector" mode, and I have no real reason to make these otherwise.

The jewelry pieces are also pretty much in this mode as I don't wear much jewelry myself (just a narrow gold wedding band is pretty much it).

A while back I had started in on the drawings and planning for a triptych of the archangels, and I was looking forward to working on that piece. The comments of a potential collaborator on the piece that it wasn't good enough to do anything with prompted me to just put all the drawings in a folder and file it away.

Here then are the issues of my frustration:

1. If my collaborator is no longer interested in working on this, how do I do anything further. The faces and hands are essential and that is generally the work of that collaborator. So now what?

2. If there is truly nothing in this piece that gives me any chance to sell it, how can I justify spending what it will cost to make it? (Ok, there probably isn't any justifing possible, given the current situation)

3. Is there some other way (so far nothing has come to me)

And so such is the state of my inactivity of late.....a sort of irritated restlessness because I'm not really working on anything and it annoys me.....

Perhaps I should just go work on something else entirely.....inspiration for something would be good!

1 comment:

Kay Dennison said...

Go for it while letting the rest sit on the little backburner of your brain. It might just jumpstart some solutions!