Sunday, March 2, 2014

THE PROBLEM CHILD-A NEW PAINTING



Dearest Readers,
At the risk of being labeled an OCD painter, I present you with the end of the road for The Problem Child, aka Golden Dawn, and New Dawn–a painting that I’ve been noodling with for almost a year, and blogged about three times now. Dare I say this is it?  Yes, this is the final. 
(Click on the image to enlarge)
 Here are a few of her layers of lives buried deep beneath these exuberant, dark swirls and tendrils.

In May, 2013, she looked like this…
Golden Dawn
 
Then in August–this...
 
Golden Dawn-Revisited

And here she was in mid December...
 
New Dawn

In saying Amen to The Problem Child, I’ll share an observation about my painting and my mind. I noticed this week that fast, emotive, instinctual mark-making is the key to unlocking my satisfaction. It’s a secret truth that I don’t always trust, so I fiddle and faddle. On the other hand, taking the time to live with a work of art, think and be with it, can result in redemption. Uncertainty and Doubtlessness both play a part.

Now put down the brush, Cecelia, stop typing and get ready to watch the Oscars.

2 comments:

  1. thank you for this post, and the honesty within it. I just came up from the studio after the session fell apart into fiddling and faddling (appropriately meaningless terms for it). It remains true for me, after many, many years, what Chogyam Trungpa wrote in Dharma Art : "first thought-best thought"

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks for your comment, Laurence. Nice to hear that other painters run into this problem too.
      I like the wisdom of Trungpa's words-"First Thought-Best Thought".

      Delete