Loosening Up

Anyone who knows me - as a person and an artist - knows I have a few control issues. :) Specifically in art, I am very, very restrained. I work on those huge canvases with a tiny brush, applying paint on canvas carefully and consistently. By the time the images get on canvas, there is no uncertainty about where the piece is going. It’s been planned and controlled from conceptualization.

Well, in an attempt to loosen up a little, I decided to do an abstract. A friend built me a 48” x 72” cradled wood panel and I decided to use house paint for the surface. I visited numerous Lowes and Home Depots and bought all the weird colors they had in the discount, “Ew, I don’t like this color so I’m returning it” bin. I bought assorted odd brushes - again, from hardware stores - roofing, wall paper, faux finish brushes. I was ready to let loose.

First things first, though. I needed to make a small swatch board, cross referencing the paint cans with the swatched colors. Now, let me ask you, do you see the irony in this? I honestly didn’t. I had an open studio and was proudly showing all my visitors my preparatory attempts to let loose. The subsequent looks of - amusement? pity? - made me stop in my tracks and just shake my head. I got it. Geez.

I reluctantly put the swatch board away and one Saturday went in to do my painting. Logistics was a consideration...how was I to actually get paint on canvas? I decided to pour the paint into cups and then directly pour onto canvas. My initial idea was to use all those cool brushes and scrape-y things to create texture. But when I took that cup of paint and poured the line...I was enamored. With the line. I wanted to just call it a day there. No, no, no, I told myself, move on. I poured the next color. And the the next. Straight lines gave way to curved and circular lines. I was practically throwing the paint. I stood there looking at all this paint and the idea of lifting the canvas up on it’s end occurred to me. What the hell. I did it - no easy feat, since the sucker weighed about 50 pounds. I let the paint drip for a while and then I wondered what it would look like of I tilted it the other way. I did. It dripped some more. Paint was everywhere. I stepped in it...tracked it through the studio, got it between my toes.

Anyway, you get the message. I used no brushes, nothing other than cups to pour the paint. And the end result couldn’t have been further away from my expectations. But, I had fun. BIG fun. While it would be a while before I would do this again (this occurred last summer, well before my “screw-it-I’m-going-to-play” epiphany from the last post), I do feel that this experience helped open me up to new creativity.

Musings...

So Why Can’t Artists Be Creative Anymore??

My difficulties have highlighted an idea/notion in my mind. There is all this talk of being creative in the workplace, how creative people are going to take over the world, yada, yada. But let’s look at what’s really happening. As an artist - and one who would very much like to make my sole living from selling art - it was ingrained in me early that I would need to 1) have an easily identifiable style, 2) create a body of work in that style and 3) don’t deviate. I was taught that mixing it up - with alternate mediums, styles, etc. would just confuse buyers and make people hesitant to collect your art. (And that is yet another notion that I find questionable - that people need to collect serious art out of the desire to “invest” as opposed to the attraction/love/etc of the piece they are viewing - messed up, if you ask me, but that’s a whole other topic of discussion.) So, I am a creative person. My creativity, IF I am to be successful, has to be limited to a particular niche? After seven years of entertaining this idea, I have finally said screw it.

As I said in the last post...it is time to play.

Update

So, it’s been a long time since I have blogged about anything art. And, there’s a good reason. Because I haven’t done much having to do with art. Since Reveal/Conceal in fall of 2008, I have been struggling. Other than a few commissioned portraits, I have produced nothing. I have cancelled shows. I have avoided the studio.

Now, a few things have contributed. A nasty economy means art sales decline (in my case, um, they disappeared). Especially when you paint large-ass oils of odd things. I couldn’t make myself paint something more appealing “to the masses” so I went out and found a “real” job. I have a background in technical sales, so I was lucky enough to be hired at an IT recruiting firm; by far the nicest people I have ever worked for. And, I took a freelance job writing artist bios and critiques (positive only) for an art website. All of these money making endeavors have kind of sucked the creativity out of me (or at least the drive to actually make art - unlike writer’s block, I have plenty of ideas...just no impetus to do them) and lessened considerably the amount of time I have to actually paint.

And, then there’s another element I’m not sure I truly understand. I had been putting all the Reveal/Conceal images out for grants, residencies, etc. and was turned down for every last one of them. I was talking to a fellow artist about my disappointment at the most recent rejection and I said - outloud - “it’s like I am looking for someone else to approve of my work so that I can approve of it.” Yowza. Epiphany.

I had a show scheduled in March and had decided to do flowers in my signature style. For the following reasons:

They sell.

I had a bunch that were not finished, so I wouldn’t have to do as much work to get ready for the show, since I had procrastinated horribly and was now under a severe time crunch to get it done.

All compelling reasons, I know. Notice there was no YEN, URGE, NEED to paint these flowers. So, it won’t be a surprise that when I stood in front of the easel, I COULDN’T paint. Finally, competing elements of business versus creativity confronted each other...and the result was a complete stand-still on my part.

This was when I gave myself permission play. More on that later.

Talk20!

Thanks to all of you who came out to Talk20 tonight at 1708 Gallery. It was a great evening and I really, really enjoyed hearing so many artistic points-of-view!

I hope - if you are looking at this blog - that you would like to participate in The Reveal Conceal Project for 2010. If you have a chance, look at some of the older posts from last year...there is a chronicle of the 2008 show that will give a lot of insight as to where this show came from. WAY more than I could say in my mere 20 seconds per slide.

Instructions for submitting are to your right. Email your submissions or, if you are in the neighborhood, stop by my studio at Plant Zero (Studio 59).

Where does the time go??

Yowza, I have been away from this blog for a while. I need to re-do the entire thing, so it's not only about "Reveal/Conceal" and that is somewhat of a daunting task, since all my graphics, etc. are on a PC and I switched to a Mac in November. Whine, whine, whine...I know. 

So, what is E. B. Kellinger up to now, besides procrastinating up a storm?? I have been working diligently on a commissioned portrait that should be done within the next couple of weeks. That, along with some consulting for an art website, has kept me pretty busy. Two more commissioned portraits after that, as well as a new collection of flowers for a show in Gaithersburg in August. I want to do some unusual sizes (28" by 84" ish) so, I'll be stretching bunches of canvases.

And, I am always thinking about Reveal/Conceal 2010...I have to get on the ball and find a gallery/venue for the exhibit. It will take about a year to prepare for, including the issuing of invitations, etc. I'll be doing Artomatic again this year (May 29 through July 5 at 55 M Street, SE) and will set up another photo booth...hopefully a little more sophisticated, if I can figure out how to secure a camera so it doesn't walk off, you know. 

That's all for now!

ART BUZZ - November 20th!

Not exactly Reveal/Conceal related (but this blog will have to change eventually anyway!)...I'll be showing a few pieces at ART BUZZ in Washington, DC on November 20th. Come on by if you are in town.  (Click on the invitation to see a larger version with all the details.)

Photo Quilts

For those of you who missed the show (and btw, it's still up for a few weeks...the show got extended until the end of November), I wanted to include full pictures of the photo quilts. These are the pictures you all sent me, grommeted, wired together and framed in silver conduit. Click on the pictures and you'll see a larger image.