Sunday, June 9, 2024

Time is an issue - or is it me?


This is an approximately 4.5" x 6.5" oil painting on canvas paper. I did it because I had to paint something! Time gets away from you. It flies, it passes, it marches on, etc. It's always moving and I'm trying to get with the sands. (Of time - wink wink).

I would say I'm trying to get back to a younger version of myself, the one who was hanging paintings in exhibits and local art shows. But that's not really true. Time has passed and I'm different. Although I haven't stopped painting entirely, I did an over-ten-year-long zig-zag of learning more about being an illustrator. So, that's what I did. I didn't become an illustrator, I learned. A LOT. Possibly more than I would have if I had simply kept painting. Maybe I'll go back to exhibiting, but my work will be different. Hopefully, better. 

Time (life) takes you down so many paths, it's inconceivable. Some of them you choose, some are chosen for you. But if there's something you love - something you just have to do to stay alive - you have to make the time for it. It's all about time management. Figuring out how to put yourself first. I have a habit of putting my art on my daily to-do list and then saving it for last. That hasn't been working out for me.

I haven't even been thinking like an artist for a long while. Shame on me. When I say thinking like an artist, I mean noticing a beautiful object, or the way the light plays on something, and saying to yourself, "that would make a cool painting." I had stopped doing that! But . . . look what I noticed a couple of days ago:



Look how pretty the reflections! - all the stripes from the blinds and in the glass! I've already started a small painting of it - a study to maybe turn into a larger version. Yahoo!

Here's a couple steps along the way to the hourglass piece. Notice how the bottom right of the hourglass in the bottom image looks like it is lower than the left side. Turning the piece upside down when you're working on it, can help you see and fix mistakes like that more easily.




Thanks for stopping by!