Blurt it out loudly and be yourself

It’s easy to be isolated as an artist.  The art world loves the gimmick, the elephant dung portrait and the volcano dust inlay and the ‘shock’ of conflating two antithetical concepts in a single piece.  Being a traditionalist, this has always saddened me.  There is so much you can do with beauty and the beautiful that are independent from subject matter.  I fully understand what the art world is doing and appreciate it but I simply can not follow that path.  Following your own voice is a lonely path.  My paintings are not fully abstract or realistic… there is really no world for me to fit in.  Neither world wants a mix.

Someone asked the other day , who is your work like?  “Me”, I replied.  I wasn’t trying to be pretentious, I just do my own thing.  I was being honest.  I’m pretty sure if I started working in the style of someone famous I’d have a shot of that illusive recognition and a show somewhere.  I’ve seen everyone do it a million times.  It’s like music world.  Everyone’s reshuffling the same deck of cards.  But if I joined them, I’d spend my life looking over my shoulder waiting for that person to tap me and call me out as a fake.  I don’t have to worry about that now.  But then again singing my own tune may require never being part of that world.

So for now, I dance a lonely dance between me and my brushes and pencils.  I tinker, consider and reconfigure.  That is what this year is about.  I’ll know when I’m ready for the next step… My rocket pack will be strapped on and I’ll have already charted my route…  I look forward to that day’s post.

Britt : )