After creating “Solace” in early 2013, I began zeroing in on
my identity as an artist with greater speed and intention. In September of that
year, I agreed to make a piece of art for a friend who had done some plumbing
work in my home and wanted artwork in exchange. Upon making the proposition, I
almost told him ‘no’ out of fear (yet again) that I wouldn’t be able to come up
with something worthwhile, but then I quickly agreed to it. After all, I had been
making artwork that doubled as greeting cards that people seemed to enjoy, so
what was to stop me from embarking on this? I knew that if I didn’t jump off of
a cliff, artistically, then I would never know how far I could make it. So, I
met with him one evening for an “interview” to ask him questions about his
likes and dislikes in terms of colors, patterns, and composition, and from
there I began my several-month-long journey to come up with a composition and
to find elements to make up said composition.
During the few years leading up to this point, I had amassed
quite a collection of catalogues with images that I held onto for use in
artwork. As I set out on my quest to gather images for this specific piece, I said
to myself that if I wanted to take all of this seriously, I would need to
organize my material so as to have it on hand at a moment’s notice. With my
partner out of town for the weekend, I dragged out every last magazine I had
stashed away and started tearing and cutting. For hours, with my cats watching
inquisitively from the couch nearby as they drifted in and out of sleep, I cut
and cut and cut out images, sorting them by subject or color. The recycle bin
was full that next week, but in the end, I had created some space in the house,
along with one hell of an organized system of images in place.
I decided to make a blog post about this because it’s
important for all artists to have a system that works for them. For me,
personally, I have learned that I can’t keep images and other art supplies
hidden away because if they’re out of sight, then they’re out of mind, and I
create artwork less often as a result (as can be evidenced by the sparse
artistic output prior to this period). By spending the time—and it took lots of
time—to organize my arsenal of images, I did myself a favor that would
facilitate future art projects. In fact, the next piece that I completed, which
was done contemporaneously to the “commissioned” piece, was heavily influenced
by my new organized system, and it came about just a few short months after putting
this wonderful system into practice. Another benefit of having such a system in
place is because sometimes, when I feel the need for creative stimulation, I
will grab a folder of images—whether it’s the “floral” or “blue” folder—and see
where the experience of browsing leaves me.
The other reason I made a blog post about this is because it's important to make space in our lives for creating art. Those hours spent in silence, selecting and cutting out images, was a ritual and a rite of passage into becoming an artist. As an artist, not only is it important to honor our work and our craft, but to honor our process as well.
The other reason I made a blog post about this is because it's important to make space in our lives for creating art. Those hours spent in silence, selecting and cutting out images, was a ritual and a rite of passage into becoming an artist. As an artist, not only is it important to honor our work and our craft, but to honor our process as well.
All current artwork can be found in my profile at Fine Art America. Thank you for your time and your support.
