Some things SORT OF change….

I wonder if I’m the only one who has this lifelong problem. I have trouble using my art supplies!  Some things I can plow through, almost wastefully.  If I’m accustomed to using something then I have no hesitation.  But if I win a set of paints or receive a wonderful gift set and I’m not quite sure what I want to do with it…..then caution sets in and I may keep it for YEARS. 

I remember having the same tendency as a kid.  Art supplies were simply too precious to be used on the dumb stuff I would make.  They should be used by someone who knew what they were doing!  So I’d turn brushes over in my hands and open paint and look at it, then close it up carefully.  Of course, it eventually dried up and then I didn’t have to ponder it any longer.  I had sketchbooks with a few pages used but I’d soon decide I was wasting the paper.  It would be best to save it for later when I could draw better.  Weird logic, right?  

The long term effects of my reverence for art supplies was a determination to DO IT.  I could have written the Nike commercial.  When I started painting again as an adult, I had no patience with people who were worried about saving paint in plastic containers or painting on the backs of old paintings.  I plowed through supplies and spent money like crazy.  My theory was do it, use it, make it, and make some more.

I  do pretty well at this point, controlling my old tendencies to be too respectful of supplies.  But when I was cleaning the studio for Gallery Tour, I opened a cabinet and found a stack of pastel and watercolor sets — still perfectly packaged and untouched.  My stomach got tight and I quickly closed the door. I wasn’t in the mood to deal with old hangups :).  The new ones are enough to keep me busy these days!  

Staying in Motion

I started a new piece today and it felt good to push the green wax to the back of the palette!  Whew, I’ve been overdosing on green.  This piece is full of grays which I’m interpreting as blue/gray and tomorrow I’ll add some warm colors.  After I was into this piece for a couple of hours, I realized I was using my materials more efficiently.  It has taken a long time to become natural with mixing colors, managing the brushes in wax, returning wax to palette, and generally handling these alien materials.  I was able to stay in MOTION today and think a little less about process - which gave me more space to think about my piece of art.  

It’s hard to tell where it’s going right now but I’m feeling good about it.  At the moment, it’s on track.  I didn’t want to stop working tonight because I was in the groove —- but I was tired and that can bring on a bad decision too easily.  SO, I spent some time with the studio cats and the dogs and I left for the day.  We’ll see where tomorrow takes this piece.