July

      Holy smokes! It's almost mid August, and I just realized I have not made a post for July. I spent some time travelling, so July was a bit off. I did get my minimum of two paintings completed, and they are displayed below.

The fright

Let me think

      I have been told the first image is frighting and/or terrifying. I have also been told it resembles a self portrait. And while my works are largely based on actual people that I know, including myself, they are never intended to be portraits. I accept that the image is terrifying. I wanted to present an image with more emotion and drama. So, I think that fits. But, I maintain that it is not a self portrait. There's a blog out there that discusses how artists always paint him/herself within their works. The site does offer additional explanations on specific works of art, but it often comes back to this one idea. Here is a link if you would like to examine this site. http://www.everypainterpaintshimself.com/ I don't know if I completely agree with that thesis, of artists depicting a version of  themselves in heir work, but I certainly think self awareness plays a huge factor in how art is made. It seems that for many artists art making is a path to immortality. Subconsciously, the desire to include oneself is hard to overcome. Perhaps that accounts for some of the similarities between creator and created. Certainly, I think this is a topic that could be debated.

      The second image is a representation of the art looking back at the viewer. This is a concept I have played with before, and it is one I will probably return to in the future. I like the idea of art looking back at the viewer. I have been to many art museums and galleries and have seen this exact pose and posture when people are looking at art. To turn things around and have the art observe the viewer, is something that greatly appeals to me.

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      As I mentioned, I have been travelling during the month of July. California was one of the places I visited. I went there to visit my sister who has always been a collector of some of my early works. I mention this because she has a wall of these early works on display, which you can see below.

      In observing this work, I have to say I found it all to be awful. I didn't like any of it. I do remember painting each one of these images, and at the time I thought they were okay. I see now that they are not very good at all. This made me think about how my work and preferences have changed over the years. Some of these images are 15 years old or older. How will I feel about my current work in 15-20 years? Will I look back and think my current work is awful? Do artists go on path to create new images and disregard their older work?

It's an interesting idea. I have looked up artists thoughts on their work and where it stands. But I never thought to investigate how artists respond to their work from previous decades. It's an idea I will have to explore further.