Artist Statement

First of all, it made the cut.  I named it "A Thousand Christmas Trees (with a nod to Robert Frost)."

The framing concept is one we came up with for an artist client, and I have stolen it for my own.  Instead of the canvas panel sitting underneath the rabbet of the frame, it sits on top.  It creates the look of a very modern canvas floater, and only works with moulding that has a fairly steep slanted face.  Clever.

Secondly, last night I drafted an Artist Statement.  I think it is quite good.  Derek has suggested I add a bit about having 15 years of framing experience, and how that enables me to conceptualize my half-baked ideas.  I will work on it, and see how it feels.  In the meantime, here is my draft:

 

ARTIST STATEMENT

 

"Decide who you are, and then do it on purpose."  - Dolly Parton

 

At the tender young age of 43, I decided what I want to be when I grow up, and I began dedicating myself to it with some degree of purpose.  I think we all want to be surrounded by things that make us happy, but not all of us take the time to figure out what those things are.  The act of existing can be so complicated, there is often no time left over for living.  And before we know it - poof!  It's too late.  My own personal roadmap delivered me to a place where I finally gave conscious thought to what makes me happy, and in doing so I decided who I am.  I gave myself permission to actively pursue a creative outlet and it is incredibly rewarding to see the way ideas and half-formed images in my head manifest themselves in real life.  To create something beautiful with my own hands makes me happy.  Whoever said money can't buy happiness wasn't spending it on the right things.  Semi-prescious stones.  Glass beads.  Copper wire.  Paint.  Mostly paint.

 

I have no formal art training but rather than allow this to be a stumbling block I believe it frees me to embrace the unconventional.  My drawing skills are dismal, but my painting skills are quite unique.  I love color and texture and words, particularly all mixed up together, and it is sometimes surprising yet always fascinating to see what ends up on the canvas.

 

I appreciate how art appeals to many senses at once.  I love the texture I can achieve with molding paste, or chunky paint and a palette knife.  I adore the smell of oil pastels.  I am fascinated by the way colors create different patterns when they swirl together on the canvas.  And I am most at peace when I am splattered with paint, a glass of bubbly in one hand and good music playing in the background.

 

My work makes me happy.  Everything makes sense; there are no hidden meanings.  I am not attempting to capture a multi-spatial perspective, my work contains no ambiguous fragments, and I have no idea how to combine metaphysical time/space elements.  I paint, and when I think I am finished, I stop.

 

(The end.)

 

You will, of course, recognize bits and pieces of this masterpiece from here, my blog.  I have no immediate need for an artist statement, I just felt the urge to write one.  Perhaps, out in the universe, I DO need one but I don't know it yet.  Stranger things have happened.

 

Thirdly, I have a book in my shopping cart on Amazon.  It is called "Quiet:  The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking" by Susan Cain.  This book was written about me.  For example, from the description, introverts are "the ones who prefer listening to speaking, reading to partying; who innovate and create but dislike self-promotion."  Yep, yep and yep.  I will buy this book to read more about myself, but I couldn't bring myself to make a purchase from Amazon.com on Small Business Saturday.  It would have been rude.