Flowers For Vincent

8"x6" oil on linen mounted on archival panel

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Winter frequently brings me square head-on into a big artist block! I'm not sure if it's a mental rebellion to cold weather or what. So, I have been toying with some fresh ideas in my studio. One that I've been noticing is a method Julie Ford Oliver calls "fracturing".  It's sort of like 'lines interrupted, with subtractive & additive painting going on'. (I'm sure that clears things up!).  Visit her blog here to see more of this idea.

It's quite different from the painting method I'd comfortably morphed into over the last few years.  I had been using very thick knife work and Henry Hensche colorist theory I had learned from Leif Nilsson and Camille Przwodek, painting directly.  For the last couple years I had really focused on shapes and values.  Julie's method is more of a building up of layers. I'm enjoying this in the studio (hey, I've only tried this twice). But I'm trying to imagine how I'd use it outdoors, when the weather is decent enough to paint plein air. 

I'm a firm believer in all that we learn is cumulative. Building on things we've taken in over the years.  Always tweaking, finding new things that pique our interest.  In visiting museums over the years, I recall two separate retrospectives, one of Monet, and another retrospective of Renoir. Seeing how their work changed over their life-times was quite illuminating to me! It's okay to change...to morph into that next stage.  The thought of it is a bit terrifying ...and yet, quite exciting.  Will I make a drastic change? (I doubt it, yet I never rule out what exploration might bring). 

As an artist, how does change in your artwork make you feel? Excited? nervous? exploratory?

As an art lover or collector, how does change in an artist's work make you feel? Interested, worried, curious, happy?

I wonder if it's my longing for Spring, that always puts me on edge at this time of year? Yearning for new growth, outdoors as well as in my 'art spirit'.  Well, I'm going to keep exploring some of these ideas. Hold on tight!