Spring cleaning. Or the desire to do it has emerged in the past few days. Well in my studio at least. It could be because it’s spring or that I have finished my course and feel energised, transformed, excited about my art and life.
My studio is quite a big room but full of years of clutter, art materials and tools, storage bins and shelves, hundreds of old art works, art books etc. It looks much worse that these photos taken a couple of months ago.
I have been working on 11 paintings in the past few weeks and they are on the walls, the floor, the tables. I have been tripping over. Need an OHS plan! Completely absorbed by my work(or that could be obsessed). Now the course is over I feel the need to de-clutter. I have moved on and feel confident and purposeful.
Aspiring artists buy stuff; how to books, art books, materials in every medium in the search for what really suits them. Most of it gets used a few times only, some of it deteriorates. You move on to another idea, another art class another medium in that pursuit for your unique style. I have done most. Watercolour , acrylic paint oil paint, monoprinting, drawing, collage and combinations of all these. Landscapes, still life, flowers large and small, the list goes on.
I have kept so much because each work was important to me as a step along in my art journey. A lot of blood, sweat and tears too!
I am now thinking I have found a way of working that I really enjoy and now longer need to hold on to the baggage. Its all been photographed so I have a record. I am working on number 725. So I am thinking of divesting myself of the burden of so much history. I could do what my friend Wendy has done and have a bonfire(don’t have the space to set up a fire) or garage sale, recycle shop, abandoning some in public places for people to find and keep or pass on. Or some form of destruction. I have started to rearrange the studio and it is in total chaos. Don’t want to be distracted from my art though.
The 11 works in progress are nearing completion; 6 of them are new and three are reworks of unresolved ones. Struggling with 2 abstracted florals but will not give up.
I have started on a new series based on my oceans mood board shown here.
Eight small studies have been done and I am working on four larger pieces. One is these is here
I am really excited about this project and the challenges there will be.
So it is back to cleaning out the studio or my oceans series, or can I manage both??
