Monday, September 22, 2008

isn't this better?

I finally got rid of the pink! Overdyed it with golden yellow and am a lot happier with it. Sorry, pink-lovers! This week I have been at home - although I drove to the eye doc today. 20/20 in the left eye, 20/200 in the right - so I've arranged to have the right eye done Oct 1. I have open studios Oct 5, which means I had better go over there, clean the place up, and hang some work this week. I don't have a lot of small pieces, so unless I make a dozen postcards to frame or a half dozen 12x12's - it will just be a showcase, not a sale. Well, I will not worry about it. I spent this afternoon and evening deconstructing screens again and have some good backgrounds for SOMETHING. But it is time to stop and re-assess where, what, and how. That we all need to do this periodically is not news to any of us - but it is taking the time to sit things out and contemplate that is so daunting. At least, to this artist. Nevertheless, with another week of sitting around coming up after next Wed., I plan to actually THINK about where my work is going. It is the thinking that is so hard - I don't know about you, but I tend to run away from it - and DO stuff, instead. So, to begin the New Year coming up -- a little brain work!! How often do you take the time to just sit and do some self-assessment as far as your art - and answer the tough questions about where you've been and how you would like your work to evolve? And does it help?

5 comments:

Sherryl said...

I liked the pink, but I have to admit that I like this one better. How you want your work to evolve is a tough question. I think it depends on what your current interests are and what you are doing with them. I suppose it could change on a dime if you discovered some new love. Good luck with the introspection. Shana Tova

Anonymous said...

Rayna, I know what you mean about the difficulty just SITTING and contemplating! I have been on the move all my life, and have a real struggle just... being. But it is good to take stock... think about where to go next. I'm kind of on that path right now, but still down-shifting from outside work to focusing more on my art. So far, my contemplations are taking me back to basics... re-learning to draw, doing some exercises to improve my powers of observation. I'm hoping to hone down a list of things I want to try to a manageable size, then focus on maybe 3 or 4 surface design techniques to really explore over the coming months. Soooooo many things I want to do! Thanks to your book, at least I have good instructions to follow!
Judy

Val said...

I LOVE pink but this is heaps better I have to admit. In fact it's great!

Anonymous said...

Sometimes we need stop and not just think, but also to look at our work and see how it can improve. I needed to improve my compositions. This led to a painting class, experiments in collage (fiber and paper), and needlefelting. These take less time to complete a work, so the learning is faster. And then back to a quilt design, to put the learning into practice in the quilt medium. So thinking and looking for areas of improvement might be a place to start.
-Connie in AL

Unknown said...

A little pink goes a long way! The overdyeing turned out better than I would have thought and definitely was the right thing to do! Good to hear that your eye surgery went well!! Best to you!

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