Monday I packed up my paintings to go to Denmark. It was a hard decision—what to send. At the last minute, on Tuesday, I pulled a few paintings out, rearranged the boxes and felt better about the selection. So my paintings are in flight over the ocean. And I follow next month!
I’ve been totally obsessed for the past few weeks about the shipment. Making sure the paintings went well together, complimentary and enough variety in colors and sizes, and dry enough to send. Once everything was packed and out of my house, I felt that empty, lost feeling I’ve often felt after an exhibit is up. Then, appropriately, I received an email from another artist, David Hinske, who happened upon my blog and then my website when he googled “post-show depression” (which he was experiencing after a very successful exhibit). It felt good to connect to someone else feeling that same strange feeling.
But the next morning I decided to go into my studio and clean up the big bad mess I had made from so much painting and packing. I did some cleaning and then, just couldn’t resist, started painting. So much for my post-packing lull! Just can’t keep away. The best cure for me is to paint. I’m stuck with it!
As David wrote me this morning:
Not exactly on point, but I'm paraphrasing Van Gogh who said something like the only way to get past painter's block is to paint. Isn't it an amazing thing to watch the picture take form? Even when I'm not painting well, it is still transporting. O'Keefe claimed she never started a painting until it was fully and completely formed in her mind - we all come at it very differently.
That’s very true. I prefer to be surprised by what happens during the process of painting. Not know until it’s finished what that particular painting wanted to be. And also—preferably pleasantly surprised by how they will look in a new space.
Posted by leya at May 13, 2007 03:02 PM