Wasting more time.....

Computers, can't live with them, can't live without them, or can you? I am slowly getting to the point where I am considering leaving the computer era behind, on a personal day to day basis.

I have no idea why a sometimes mature, normally sane, free spirit accepts the dictatorship of a chip dictated machine? Why is it that when I try to read the news online, numerous applications and programs suddenly can't live without my attention?

Java update available, Avast has updated your virus data base, Acrobat reader available for update, google adds, everysingleaddyoueverwanted.com loading, Firefox is installing a new version, your profile is being updated, you do not have Flash, please install it now......

You know, I only wanted to read the headlines before going to my appointment! Is it only me, or does this happen to all of us? Maybe it's just me, computers fall under the same rule as picking the right line in the store.

Now, why do we accept this? If I go to the store and they dump the whole inventory in my buggy, I will most likely leave and go somewhere else. Can you imagine going through the buggys content and take out what you don't want? Nope, but when it comes to computers and computer programs it's perfectly ok. What I'm saying is that the default is to accept whatever, and then if we don't want it we have to make an active choice. Shouldn't it be the opposite, if we want it we act?

Now, I'm not totally against this. Fact is I might do the same if I ever have an exhibition again. I hand over a paper to the visitor with all the paintings listed and boxes already marked with an X. Then at the bottom I write "Erase the X for items you do not wish to buy. If you plan to return to this exhibition or an upcoming one and want to disable the buy option, please visit my website to register".

Can't live without it, computers and the internet.

My First Juried Art Show

I entered my first juried art show this week. Since it was a first I didn't really know what to expect from it, acceptance or denial? The exhibition is well established, running on its 16th year. Anyway, I thought it would be a good measurement of my art.

So how did it go? I am really proud and happy to say they accepted one of my paintings. Especially since in my humble opinion the other two I submitted were far better. Just kidding, they were all different in style, but to me it shows that judging art is very subjective.

Spellcheck

I just have to write it, blog, blog, blog, blog, blog.  The spellcheck on this blog doesn't agree with the word blog.

Why abstract?

It appeals to me, it's the way I want to paint. That's the short answer, here comes the scientific one. When I paint I simplify, then I simplify some more, but without taking away the essence of what I'm painting. For instance, a forest is still a forest, even if you can't pick out a single tree in the picture. Shapes and colors are everything when it comes to creating the impression of a forest.

I'm always amazed at the things people see in my paintings, things I didn't put there. My explanation is this, painting is a two-way street. The beholder becomes a part, he relates to the picture, filling it with creations of his own mind. The abstraction leaves room for imagination. How about that for a philosophical approach to my art?

How do you know when to stop?

When is a painting finished? That is the hardest thing at times, to know when to stop. There is usually a point when adding more makes less. I have been working longer than usual with my latest painting, adding, changing, putting it away, bringing it back out, looking at it, ignoring it. It is different, it is large, it is almost realistic, except the view doesn't exist in reality.

My back hurts and my eyes are sore, that is usually a sign to stop no matter if the painting is finished or not. Maybe this time it is done, ready to be signed.

Maybe....

I usually

make a simple sketch before I start to paint, but sometimes, when I'm really stuck and have no idea what to paint, I try to approach the canvas in a different way. I use the knife instead of the brush, I only mix the colors partially before spreading them on the canvas, I work fast and I accept failure. The goal is to make something that comes out of the moment, something that I didn't plan. The partially mixed paint and the structure of the canvas will affect the outcome, as well as the ideas that pop up during the process.

The purpose is to have fun, to change the routine and find new inspiration. Sometimes it works, sometimes not, but at least I did something that gave me more experience and that can never be wrong.

I quit painting

for many years after my first try. Time went by and life had other things in store for me, what we in hindsight call life experience. It is an essential part of creative art, a bucket of resources that we use to fill our art with. When I first started out 30 years ago that bucket was close to empty, or maybe I didn't have the understanding to find out what was in it.

When I paint I usually have a sketch to help me get started, but I don't have the final product pictured in my mind. I sometimes have a vision of what it will be like, but during the process that vision becomes something else. The end result is a product of my intentions, my mood, the way the paint comes out on the canvas, the structure of the canvas, and the opportunities of the sketch that at first were hidden from me.

I don't paint with my brain, I paint with my hands and my open senses. That is also why I can't just dig into the bucket and produce a painting, it has to come to me in one way or the other. When I am able to work freely, with an open mind absorbing impressions, combined with my ability to mix the paint and spread it, that is when creation is truly at work. At times like that there is a bond between me and the painting and not a barrier.

I am not in control of every part of the process, I am the tool making it happen.