Re-posting "Experimentation"

Thought this one was worth posting again.

"Katie"

11X14

oil

I have, in fact, been painting this week. Sometimes I have a painting job to do – a commission, or a request for more lighthouses, landscapes or…whatever, from a gallery. But sometimes when I’ve finished a piece, I have leftover paints on my palette. And since I don’t want to waste perfectly good paint…I will experiment. It’s one of my favorite things to do, in my artistic life. Sometimes.

The only drawback is that, as in any form of experimentation, sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn’t. Sometimes I like the experiment enough to incorporate it into my painting style. When the experiment takes a wrong turn, then I question my own worth as a human being.

Maybe that’s a slight exaggeration. But experimenting brings both agony and ecstasy. Are any of you old enough to remember that intro to the “Wonderful World of Sports” (or some such overblown title)? Remember when the announcer got to “the agony of defeat”, and that poor skier went flying uncontrollably off the ski jump and into the crowd? That poor guy. I wonder if his name was Hans.

Anyway…occasionally I have an experiment that goes wrong, and for the rest of the day (or week) I feel like poor Hans. Why did I ever think I could be a painter? I could be an accountant sitting at my desk like a regular person…with a regular paycheck. But who am I kidding? I hate numbers and math way too much to be an accountant. 

Hans had to ski…I have to paint. Fortunately, last weeks’ adventures in experimentation went okay. I don’t know that I’ve made any kind of mind-boggling breakthroughs, but every experiment has value. Even the ones that go awry. At least you can incorporate it into your artistic toolbox under the title “never, ever do this again”.

And even more fortunately for me, unlike the pitiable Hans, a mishap in the art studio seldom results in broken bones. And I seldom have to do math.

I wonder whatever happened to Hans. Now that’s all I’ll be able to think about for the rest of the afternoon. Sometimes it’s hard to be me.

 enjoy!

Challenges

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"Sophisticated Lady"

14X11

oil

 

As the title of this post implies...I've had a few challenges of late. I won't go into great detail for those of you who have already heard (to the point of retching) about my woes.

 

Around the end of May, I fell and broke my right shoulder. Yes...I'm right-handed. I won't say much about the particulars of this calamity, since it involves stupidity on my part. In the midst of this, it was discovered that I had a mass in my lung. Scary.

 

I'll skip over the long, drawn-out saga that followed and just cut to the chase and let you know that I'm fine. It is a nodule caused by a fungus. A very old fungus it would seem, since there's calcium in it. Everything on me is old.

 

Even the condensed version is tedious. But at least it's informative. Boring. But informative.

 

So...challenges. The up side to trials is that it's nice when they're over. I'm back to normal - for the most part. Normal for me, that is. I'm sure you all have your opinions as to the degree to which I am normal.

I have a portrait demo coming up on Sunday. Always a challenge...attempting to do a decent portrait in an hour and a half or two. While an audience watches. Which reminds me. Maybe I should prepare for that.