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My Best Advice – Art Journal Page
Posted on October 29, 2011 by Gulfsprite in Art Journals, Blog
A recent comment I received was about how the commenter was amazed at my willingness to cut up and reuse paintings. And how each time they saw me do this in a video they wondered how I could do this so easily.
My best advice is that you have to learn to let go. The real magic is in the making for the artist. I say this because I actually understand what it feels like to be worried about messing a piece up or feeling like you are going to mess it up.
Originally I painted this girl, wasn't happy with the rest of the page, so I painted a frame around her and changed the entire page.
It took me a while to realize that the feeling was of my own making and that if I could just let go of the idea of it being perfect (or precious) I would no longer have to have that feeling. This didn’t happen to me overnight. This was something that I came to gradually and I had to work at it.
But once I realized I could always just paint another face, that the faces came from within me and thus there wasn’t an end to them, I found a feeling of freedom.
A fun trick is to write on every third line (or so) and then go back to the top and continue down again.
I look at it this way… This is my art and I as the artist have the right to use it however it feels right to me to do so. I made it and I don’t want to just stash it in a drawer somewhere to be found later after I am gone.
So when a piece doesn’t sell, or when I choose not to offer it for sale, I feel comfortable just reusing it.If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!
Maybe those who question your not keeping your artwork “as is” the first go round are just saying that it is “irreverant” to do so. In your mind, the “irreverance” is NOT doing it…just one opinion versus another. But your work is yours to do as you please. Just as it is for them to not touch theirs once it is finished. I think it is great that you can do this. It is ultimately you that has to be happy with your work. And I think that maybe you aren’t as “enthusiastic” to do this as they may think you are…more compelled to try and improve something you weren’t pleased with in the first place? I always like your take on things and your artwork is wonderful !
To be honest I never really considered it to be irreverent or to not be irreverent. I suppose to some it may seem to be so. The comments that I get are usually meant in a really positive way and I just wanted to explain my thoughts on my process.And no I don’t think it is irreverent not to do it… not at all. I have seen stories of artists who pass away and there are tons of works of art just tossed in drawers or stacked in basement boxes. I want to put them in an art journal that tells a bit more of my story instead. That’s all.