Oh creativity, you are such a fickle mistress!
In this New Year period I am sitting at my studio desk (where I paint in acrylic and watercolour) having just visited the space where I paint in oils, and I am torn, torn, torn. Which one am I to follow? Or can I make room for all three?
Around me are some works from my Italian painting time. Some are straight out art therapy, and they remind me of how strong I can be, and how much I have overcome. Some, like the huge works that were in the museum in Cassino, Italy, but are now in storage here, give me a real sense of having achieved something. Tucked away with them are the works confronting domestic violence, painted especially for an event in Cassino but shared more widely. They are also in oils, painted away from my living space because the subject is a tough one. I needed to be able to walk away from them at the end of each working day. They too are powerful works I am quite proud of.
In front of me, in contrast to the strong oils, is the watercolour I painted for the recent exhibition, representing those left behind when women are killed. The subject is tragic, so I painted it without a model. I keep it where I can see it, because it felt as though the painting flowed through me, rather than was painted by me, and I marvel at how quickly I achieved what I wanted with that work, and how I can look at it as a painterly object of beauty rather than as something sad.
Up on the wall behind me are two cheerful sunflowers, again painted for an event in Cassino last year. It was the opening of a garden dedicated to women, with the red bench seat, and I chose fast drying acrylic to paint sunflowers for the women of Ukraine. It was painted at very short notice after arriving back in Italy, and the fast brushwork gives the work an energy that is not my usual hand.
Rolled up on the storage bench seat beside me is the recent major acrylic work, hiding from view. The acrylics are packed away, that project is started, I am happy with the big exploratory work I did (which has already gone to a private collection). There are many more in that series, but when can I paint them, and what size will they be?
I am surrounded by my watercolours. There are bees and lizards and a frog peering at me. I have two more to complete in the series. That will happen soon.
Yes, as I look at the year ahead, I am struggling to fit everything in. My nomadic lifestyle is exciting, colourful, but also uses up a little of my painting time as I travel.
The oil paints will be packed away for a while. Much as I love them, I can't see me getting back to them in the next year. Acrylics are better for painting on the move. Unstretched canvas is easier to transport, not so easy to paint on unless you are well set up. Watercolours are easiest to work with but not always suited to my subjects. They definitely go in the suitcase though!
And just when I think I have my projects narrowed down and nearly sorted, right up to the next major exhibition in Cassino, Italy, in May 2024, a whole new series pops up in glorious, fun colour, simply begging to be squeezed in somewhere!
My task for today was to slot each project into a time frame and location, and that's where I come unstuck. It's a little like doing a jigsaw puzzle, with new pieces being given to you just when you thought you had the border all sorted.
I'm not complaining, I'm a happy artist (my one-time email address). I'm just more than a little bit excited about the year ahead!
