Pandemic Days

Well, I'm back. I totally was weighing the pros and cons of blogging after the new year. All the advice you read these days for starting your own art business claim you really need to blog. That people are investing in you as well as your art. I'm really trying very hard to make this art thing work so I took the advice and ran with it. But at various times, I started to wonder, does anyone truly care what I think and what my process for art making is? I don't really know the answer to this because I've not had many serious discussions with my viewers about it. I do believe, however, from my own experience as an art collector, that knowing something about an artist helps me to understand the art a little better. It makes my experience a little more tangible and rich. So being as I think I'm pretty much like any other art appreciator, I decided to continue blogging as it may add something to the picture of who I am and in turn give you, the viewer, more insights into the work and possibly make your viewing experience more enjoyable and meaningful.

So on to a new year of blogging - although late. Looking back on the past year, I can see how my work has changed and evolved. I have grown with all the new experiences I have had. So the road to growth, it seems, is taking that dip into uncharted waters which is kind of scary but once you succeed, it feels totally exhilarating. That was my plan for 2020....to continue to be open to new ideas and challenges...to open my mind, and to continue to work on my skills and discovering my uniqueness.

I started this year with some experimenting. It seems the freer my style becomes the more interest there is from my audience. Art is all about expressing what is in your heart...it is true....but the mind sometimes wants to take over. It is a challenge to stop the mind from overthinking things. That's why experimental painting can be challenging and very rewarding. The first thing I tried was a piece I did on repurposed canvas that was very very old so I guess I didn't really care so much if I created a disaster. To my surprise, I created something really kind of cool. See if you agree. It was very simplistic by sticking to a basic palette of colors. I started off trying to go for something totally different than what I finished which is probably one of the reasons they call it experimental. This piece definitely sets a certain mood.

I'm wondering if it also sets the mood that we've all been feeling lately - living life with the pandemic of 2020. It seems our lives have more or less been put on hold. We live day by day in the protection of our own 4 walls. We feel protected from the pandemic but not from the state of our own minds. Day in and day out, we are living in this self imposed stillness. We are not able to freely move about. At first, we thought this would last a few weeks and we didn't have a problem giving up our freedoms for the greater good. But here we are, 2 months after this self imposed quarantine and it seems we have been frozen in time. I'm hoping that the stillness evolves into movement and we can begin living our colorful lives again. Until then, I am bringing the colors of my life into my artwork and hope they fill your heart with hope and light.