Monday, October 25, 2010

Patina and a Painting



I love the patina of well-used hand tools!


Acrylic on canvas
16" x 20" x 3/4"

Another weekend has come and gone.  I began a new 36" x 36" painting and have deemed the above painting to be finished.   It's good to have a painting in progress.  So much easier to pick up the paintbrushes after a day at the office, once a painting has been started!!  So much less energy... and thought ...and effort required to sustain the work compared to initiating the work.

Spent just a little time in the garden cutting down the rampant phlox and harvesting the last of the tomatoes before the deluge. It felt good.  (Way too little time spent gardening these past few years.)  And I spent some time visiting your wonderful blogs, where I find so much inspiration....Thank you!!

7 comments:

Julie Whitmore Pottery said...

Gloria that is a fabulous rolling pin and hammer too. The other thing reminds me of a baseball bat, but that could be from watching too much baseball!

Anonymous said...

I always struggle to know when things are done. Sometimes, I change my mind months later. I agree, it is always better to have something "going" at all times. Otherwise, it is way too easy to hit a creative wall. At least that is how it is for me!

Gloria Freshley Art and Design said...

Yes, determining whether a piece of work is done or not can sometimes be challenging. One thing I HAVE determined is that it's best for me to stick with a painting over the course of several (or many) sessions until I've resolved its issues sufficiently enough to be able to consider it "complete" and generally acceptable to me. Then, I let it go and consider it to be representational of where I was in my artistic development at that point in time. Sure, when I look at it down the road, I'm bound to see things I could have done differently, but by then -- hopefully--I'm onto something else. I find that if I don't have the opportunity to "wrap a painting up" during the initial burst of creativity, it tends to sit, unfinished -- sometimes for a LONG time!

Unknown said...

What IS that knowingness that says a painting is done? What are the elements of 'it's complete'? It is timeless....

annamaria potamiti said...

I have come to the habbit of hiding my work for a week or so, I often am very surpised at what I consider *finished* or *well done*- a little distance helps. We all have different ways of evaluating our work and whether it is finished or not. It is tough, that is for sure!! Happy to see you have put things up in your Etsy store. I know what to use for the next treasury now!!Yay!!XX

Gloria Freshley Art and Design said...

Hi Julie, It wasn't really fair of me not to include an entire view of the "baseball bat." It's actually an upholstery tool and the metal portion of it is quite refined, similar to the little hammer-type tool at the bottom of the photo, but proportionately larger. It has the owner's intial "E" carved into it. Looking forward to your next post!

Gloria Freshley Art and Design said...

Annamaria, Thank you for your thoughts and kind comments!! I'm enjoying reading people's different approaches to this topic. And speaking of seeing things in a new light or from a new perspective, I'm always so amazed at what the camera reveals of my art. So often, I see something in a photograph of a work that I have "completed" that I had never even noticed before! Best...