Watch Me Paint
Grace was five years old and liked pink, purple, party dresses and unicorns. She’s a real girl, one who has always been decisive, and she works hard for what she wants. I was once a little girl like her, before reality beat me up and before my back started hurting too much to ride unicorns.
I intended to paint a portrait of girlish authority before it concedes. I also consider this a self-portrait and a manifesto.
“Unicorn reindeer visiting my front garden with a double rainbow in the background” 8X6, oil on board. Today for my one-hour still life I returned to an old idea, painting an internet meme. I could find only half the props needed for “baby monkey riding on a pig,” so I fell back on that old …
Continue reading “Unicorn with double rainbow (for my kids)”
Experts say that we should see criticism as an opportunity for growth, a spur to improve. I’m 64 years old and I’m not quite mature enough yet.
Am I willing to experience the rejection and discomfort that comes from pushing limits? I don’t know, but it seems to me that growth demands it.
Our lives are the sum of all the choices we make, and our talent is where our determination and desire collide.
We hate rejection, but it’s a fact of life in the arts. What’s important is what we do with it.
Painting can take itself way too seriously. Small paintings are a place to experiment with our odd ideas.
Perfection is a great goal, but it’s never been possible in a one-man, artisan operation.
Constructive criticism is one thing, but snark has more to do with the critic’s internal settings than any real problems.
Every day, in every way, things are not necessarily getting better. In Control (Grace and her unicorn), 24X36, is one of the paintings that’s going to Rye Arts Center’s Censored and Poetic: the works of Carol Douglas and Anne de Villemejane, March 2022. A visitor to my studio recently asked me about the gender disparity in painting. …