Basquiat’s Door, 40 x 72 inches, acrylic, ink and spray paint on canvas. This painting is the second in my Artists’ Homes Series and is the catalyst for this new body of work.
I’ve made some ugly stuff over the past few weeks. Luckily, I’ve also some good stuff, and I’ve had lots of fun (most of the time) in the studio while creating. Experiencing more joy and freedom than frustration and uneasiness kept me moving forward with the work. I’ve been wanting to go more abstract and expressive with my paintings for a while now. Probably years if I’m being honest with myself.
Once the kids started back to school this fall, I decided to go for it. I had been working on a large painting in my artists’ homes series of a door from Jean-Michel Basquiat’s 57 Great Jones Street home. I thought it best to make this painting with a combination of acrylic and spray paint. The experience of working with spray paint sparked something in me. After feeling so much freedom creating that painting, I decided to try and break free from my more detailed watercolor paintings and explore spray paint. I moved back and forth between using my morning walk find sketches as inspiration and simply letting my intuition guide me while painting.
Below you will see in process images:
This series is about finding a new rhythm and language in my art which is still unclear to me; however, I am confident that the uncertainty I’m experiencing right now is part of the process. I feel vulnerable sharing that I don’t know where the work is going, and I’m hesitant to show it because there is a chance the work may not go anywhere new. In the end, I may end up right back where I was a few months ago. And, that’s okay. On the other hand, because I am sharing the work and the process, I’m confident that the work will not go back where it was.
I'm making the work right now
and
doing my best not to judge what's coming out
I am pushing my process and materials in a new way that scares me because I don’t know where the work is headed. In spite of being intimidated, I will:
Continue to push myself
Develop my new language through new and old mediums
Be in the unknown in the studio as the work evolves
Show up, make the work then share it with you
As always, thank you for following along on my journey. You can see and purchase work from this series here.