When I paint with oils, sometimes I will pull out an small, old canvas and end up mixing my colors on there. After the last painting I posted I ended up with a really colorful canvas. I hung it on my studio wall because I liked it. And then one evening I took black paint and covered up parts until I had the remaining shape. Ir reminded me of a thought bubble and probably how my thoughts actually look- a jumble of colors and shapes. Some parts peaceful, other parts filled with turmoil.
It was fun and I decided that it needed to stay and be.
I’ve been keeping this blog for, good grief, 20+ years. It was meant to document my creative journey and also to help me find the language around my art. I’v egotten to a point where people associate my work with a certain style and at some point I started to feel more self conscious about sharing these experiments or when I shift gears like I have recently done from my earthy encaustic mixed media paintings to colorful landscapes. “If you have too many different pathways then curators won’t take you seriously, blah, blah, blah”. Well I have been showing my work for a while and I take myself seriously, so does what these voices from the internet art world matter? Maybe.
Recently when I put a show together at xoxo Gallery in Baltimore, I was looking at a lot of work and honestly, I didn’t care about that. I looked for work that resonated with me and what the exhibition was about. Now I totally understand the argument. But this is my visual journal that I share online in this strange online world we’ve been living in for the past 20 some years. And why should I share this Thought Bubble piece.
In fact, I made two more small absract pieces during my landscape oil painting stint. And I love them! And today I turned my eax back on and I revisited a painting that was once deemed done, but I decided to work on it today. I got rid of the plant image and this piece is going to stay an abstract painting.
So Though Bubble is part of the journey. Journal: to enter or record daily thoughts, experiences, etc., keep track of a journey.
This is my journey.