A Musing #10
To anyone doing anything independent in the sense you have stepped away from your mentors/school, always remember to be able to catch your errors. I strongly believe that’s one of the major keys to surviving and producing great work on your own. That’s my advice. You can also give advice too. I was reading some Facebook posts where people mention “if were qualified or had a chance to give advice I’d say…” Clearly you can it is social media and we can choose to listen to you or not. I really don’t understand what the big deal is. This isn’t about being arrogant or humble, post whatever you want. Honestly, I’m annoyed at myself for reading it and being this frustrated that I had to write about it in my blog.
I’m reaching a point where I do need to paint someone I’ve come into contact with at the very least. There isn’t any issue painting Mike Brown or Sandra Bland. It’s super important that we remember them and don’t let what happened get swept under the rug. Due to the news, people tend to have an image of how they died, but we should remember how they lived. They were human beings just like you and me. We can’t forget them.
Back to my point of personal relationships, I’m craving working a portrait of someone that I’ve had the pleasure of meeting. Mike and Sandra have indeed had an impact on me, but I’ve never met them. Don’t get me wrong, it’s very special and a different experience, yet there’s something that isn’t the same when you know someone personally. You see the way they eat, move, talk, etc. They react to you creating an unspoken discourse and that’s what goes into a portrait.
Now that I’m really back into the swing of portraiture, I want to go back to where I left off in Montreal concerning my subjects. It’s not like the concept of “personal relationships” has gone out of style in the art world. So my new goal is starting at least one of those types of paintings again before the new year. If you’re a friend of mine reading this, expect those out of nowhere “heyyyy” messages from yours truly.
