Monday, December 11, 2017

Does It Count?

"Weaving - Autumn Fields" 10"x10"
yarn on a pin loom
Does it count if I only write a blog post two or three times a year? I think it does. I think it "counts" if I show up. I show up in the studio nearly every day that I am at home. I try to show up on my blog but only when I have something to say about what I'm doing. When I first began to blog, I was determined I'd do a post every month. Then I realized that it's more important to do the work of an artist than it is to write and blog about it. I don't seek fame or even fortune, which seems to be the aim of many bloggers. I seek knowledge and understanding of my own work. Writing about what I'm doing and thinking helps me define my progress. So if I write a post now and then, I think it does count.

Cover page of a small book
 5" x 7.5" collage 
"Daisy Duet" 15"x21"
poured acrylic on paper
I keep a sketch notebook of my work. It includes photos of my artwork on the left hand pages and on the right side I record thoughts, ideas and notes about what I'm working on. I blog, in a sense, to myself. I also practice the "morning pages" described by Julia Cameron in "The Artist's Way". I've done these pages for 20 years. That is also blogging to myself. Then, when it comes to a public blog, like this one, I can review, sift and sort, and decide what people might like to hear about.

Artistically speaking, this has been an interesting year. While I'm still painting, collage and multimedia have taken over this year's inventory as the most product. I started weaving on a pin loom and also created a number of collage and assemblage pieces. Does it count? I am, after all, a painter. Those weaving and assemblage pieces required that I figure out problems, that I stretch my imagination and my form of expression. Painting has become "flat", assemblages challenging. Does it matter? Does it count? It does, to my personal self. Anything I do that expresses what I see, how I feel, what I'm thinking and what I'm imagining "counts" and that includes writing this blog post. I hope everyone has had a productive year, has grown in some way, come to understand their own selves better. I have. And it does count. All of it.