I’ve been thinking about and looking at various ways of critiquing my art work. There are so many ways. How about evaluating artistic motivation? I was reminded of this thanks to the book “Art & Fear” by David Bayles & Ted Orland. 

I am re-reading portions of ”Art & Fear” when I realized the book contains is an interesting way of evaluating the motivation behind my artwork. Here is the quote from chapter III, page 23 in my book that brought this to mind:

“In a general way, fears about yourself prevent you from doing your best work, while fears about your reception by others prevent you from doing your own work.” - from Art & Fear

So, is the subject of my art based on something that I am really interested in? Or did I pick a “safe” subject that avoids a challenging or unusual subject that is of interest to me? Or, perhaps, did I pick a “safe” subject that I think will be well received others?

I do try to pick the subjects of my art without letting fear get in the way, but it is good to take a step back and see if my choices have been successful in that way. I have found it is really is a beneficial exercise to evaluate the artistic choices I make. I imagine the answer to these questions could push me in a different direction or reinforce a current direction.

So, the question is…Today, am I doing my best work and my own work?

Susan Rothenberg spoke to Art21 (http://blog.art21.org/2010/05/07/susan-rothenberg-bruce-the-studio/), and this quote is one to which I really relate. This quote has given me much to think about and consider. Here’s the quote.

“You have to commit to your work, and you have to find things that interest you, and you have to find interesting ways of rendering them, and you have to fight yourself at every turn so that you’re not repetitive or taking an easy solution.”  - Susan Rothenberg

The emotional seasons of life are constantly changing. Here is “Spring - Season 7″, acrylic on canvas.

I listened to Dick Gordon’s show “The Story” today featuring two tsunami survivor’s stories, http://bit.ly/9dOzPu . Amazing stories.

Nature can deal out extreme devastation and loss of life that seems beyond expression. What amazes me is the courage, endurance, determination and hope that is arises in the human spirit event after these tragedies.

I clearly remember hearing the reports on the December 26th, 2004 news about the tsunami which became a primary driving force driving my series titled Hope. Even after listening to today’s The Story, I am still in awe of the tenacious, enduring hope in the human spirit.

I am continuing thoughts from the last post about keeping artwork dynamic and avoiding becoming static.

Another way I approach this is to brainstorm new ideas. Spin off new ideas based on a subject from your own art work or sketch page. Change this selected subject to a new composition by using a word exercise. Start by selecting some action verbs or adjectives, and use those words to create the subject in a new way. So, apply words such a slice, multiply, bubble, twist, wrap, etc., to your subject. The result will usually be some new imagery for you to critique.

Are there similar ideas out there?

In American Artist magazine for February of 2010, Joseph Bonomo had 6 tips advising how to becoming a better artist. One tip is “Continue to challenge yourself with the complexity of your work and approach. Never become static or formulaic.”

How art keep from being static? How an artist challenge herself and increase the complexity of her work? How does art become dynamic, changing, and progressively moving forward?

There is a whole list of things that fall into this area for me. One thing I do is get out some of my art books that have interesting drawing and creativity exercises in them. I pick out the exercises that I perceive as being in tune with my art. Using those exercises, I get out a sketch book and start creating. The results, whether good, bad, ugly, or interesting, help me experiment and move forward.

I have been experimenting painting with acrylic on panels once again. I’m liking the gessobord. Seems that I have to get used to the feel since it is so different than canvas. But, really enjoying trying something new! Also, tried some of the pumice gel from Golden. Interesting experiments.

Discussing more detail about this process of moving on to new work… I wrote yesterday about the fact that a series idea will become so strong that it cannot be ignored. What gives an idea this type of pull and strength?

For me, the contributing factor to the strength of a new series idea is reinforced by events in the world, events in the local communities, and events/encounters on a personal level. So generally, things that happen around me and in the world become linked in my mind to a new series idea, and that causes a new series idea to be much stronger. The linking process motivates me to create paintings featuring that new idea. So, this new idea overtakes a previous idea with which I had been working. My focus is undoubtedly guided by my own curiousity since there may be more to discover about the new idea. Therefore, I move on to new work. 

A simple idea turns into an idea that cannot be ignored which then turns into a physical object - a painting - which can then be shared with others.

Been thinking about how I become motivated to shift focus from one series and start another series of paintings. The ideas behind all my painting series still hold much interest for me, but I move on from those ideas to new ones. Why do I stop working on a series that I am still interested in? For me, the pull of a new series idea becomes very strong, and it demands attention. Some ideas just cannot be ignored, and one idea can overpower the other ideas. There are so many series ideas that demand attention, and yet, only one ends up winning the focus for the day. 

Autumn…  A beautiful season full of colors, big changes, challenges, and fun. In the back of your mind, knowing that winter is coming whether you want it to or not.