#11. ORGANIZATION (Reflection While Painting “Buon Appetito!”)
Painting—Licorice Allsorts
Reflection: ORGANIZATION
Being organized matters—even, and especially, as an artist. Better painting happens for me when my desk is tidy: correspondence caught up on and phone calls made. Then, I can shut the door on the studio and just focus on the canvas—no distractions or rambling thoughts and preoccupations or interruptions. Some days, I know from the start that I shouldn’t have attempted to paint at all. There’s just too much else distracting. Other days, I regret not carving out specific time to paint—unable to forget about everything else that has to be done and needs to take priority. We all have different needs and obstacles and must find what works best for us individually. For me, painting is a sacred act and privilege, something for which I need to enable quiet space and time in order to reap maximum rewards, experience-wise. I want a piece to be as whole as possible, unpolluted by the vicissitudes of the hour. Of course, this is an idealist attitude, but it’s nice to be able to dream and hope. Painting is also interesting because it is influenced by surroundings and happenings, states of mind and energy levels. Perhaps because I’ve spent some time practicing art therapy, I’m more concerned with art-making that’s product oriented than art-making connected to the exploration of emotions. This, however, can prove more difficult when creating abstracts—or so I’ve found.
