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Wednesday, July 13, 2011

Express Yourself...

Grande Dame   oil/canvas   30 x 40 x 1.5
I am the happiest when my work reflects who I am....my own personal recipe of design expressed through paint.  In the past, I have painted what is in front of me, especially en plein air, using local color, hard edges and pretty much what would be seen from a photograph.  The result has been a great dissatisfaction and uneasiness.  "Grande Dame" was originally painted from photos taken from a Victorian home.  Its title was "Gabled".  Despite the fact that it was, in my opinion, a respectable work, it didn't thrill me.  It did not represent my own ideas, my own interpretation.  After a year had passed and it was time for varnishing, I decided that I just couldn't preserve it as it was.  I couldn't wait for the initial destruction.  It sat in my studio for a very long time.  By then I had deleted all photo references.  It took four sessions of discovery and interpretation.  It was rechristened "Grande Dame".

While I am certain that there are those who prefer the first version, I owe it to myself to be myself.  Not painting to an audience.  

I felt as if I had come home.  At long last.