6 New Year Art Resolutions

Yes, six New Year resolutions - a tall order I know. 

Hard at work

 

1.  Work smaller scale.  I do seem to naturally work larger scale - I enjoy making big gestural strokes.  Whilst working in the large airy studio spaces during my degree course that was fine, but now I am in my garden studio at home storing large works can quickly become a problem.  Smaller scale works on paper can be stored in a browser or portfolio.  Smaller framed works and canvases are more 'user-friendly' in the current economic climate too.  This strategy may help me to become more prolific.  I plan to work on a series of very small paintings based on the local landscape around my village.  Watch this space...

 

2.  Work more from life.  I believe that working from life creates many more opportunities for a personal style to develop.  Responses to subject matter are more immediate and experimental in the process of mark making to capture what is there in real life.  Incorporated into this resolution is the desire to use my sketchbooks as much as possible and to utilize small snatches of time creatively.

 

3.  Close Inspection - Initiate a series of work.  For some reason I take a lot of photos of close-up textural surfaces - rust, tree bark etc - and when I review them I love the abstract qualities.  So far only one of these images has been a basis for a painting.  I plan to do more but that first mixed media painting titled 'Close Inspection' is the start and lends its name to what I hope will become a visually exciting collection.

 

Close Inspection, mixed media on canvas, 30x30cms



4.  Seasonal - Initiate a series of work.  I really enjoy painting still life based on fruit and vegetables.  Maybe being a vegetarian has something to do with it!  So far the work I have done has been initiated because of class preparation but I really would like to do some more for my own pleasure.  Tracking seasonal produce would be an ideal opportunity this coming year.

 

5.  Act on opportunities and interests - don't put things off...

 

6.  Website.  I have at last got this blog back on track but the same can't be said for my website.  I read somewhere that an unfinished website 'under construction' is worse than not having one at all.  My poor website needs finishing.  The problem is I am not quite sure whether to have it just for my animal artwork or to broaden it out to include other genres.  This dilemma is compounded by the fact that I work across a lot of different media but I do think an artist website is stronger with a tighter focus. 

 

So, my resolutions are out in the big wide world; reviewing them in December will be interesting!

 

What do you hope to achieve in 2013?