Since this is my initial entry, I suppose it’s a good idea
to explain why I am starting this blog.
I am an artist who is not represented by a gallery, gets minimal
exposure and receives little feedback on my work. Luckily, the intellectual dialog with my work
is my foremost motive for creating images.
Usually, upon completion, a new artwork is stacked along with other
works in my studio and forgotten as I proceed to my next creation. Though I’m comfortable with this routine, I
do, at times, miss the classroom critiques and spontaneous discussions about my
work, specifically, and Art, in general, that defined my years of formal study.
It’s become clear to me over the past couple of years that
the internet offers me a venue in which I can get exposure for my work and elicit
discussion. I was pretty sure that a
website devoted to my artwork would be the format that I would choose to
establish a presence on the internet, but, after a number of false starts and
aborted efforts, I began seeking simpler and less expensive alternatives. A friend, who many a time had listened to me
bemoan my lack of progress on this endeavor, suggested that facebook might be a
good outlet for me, so I signed up and began uploading digital images of my
artwork to my homepage, often providing commentary specific to the image. Right from the start, my kids informed me
that I was too wordy for facebook, that no one would read my entries, but I
kept at it all the same. Of course, my
kids were right; facebook functions like a tickertape, with posts traveling
through an active viewing page rather quickly, depending on the current volume
of activity, and, for all intents, once having passed off that page, being
consigned to internet oblivion. It was a
bit painful to see a post that I’d worked hard on and given some serious
thought to zip off the active viewing page in less than a day (which, if my
peripatetic participation is in any way representative, would mean that most of
my postings commonly passed into the cyberspace void before anyone had a chance
to see them). And another aspect of
facebook is that my postings were only available to my embarrassingly small
coterie of “friends”, many of whom were not particularly interested in
Art. All the same, I stuck with it for
over a year, my postings gradually becoming more general, documenting a host of
activities not related to my artwork, like going out to dinner, taking a
vacation or hiking with my dog. I did
find it fun to give my “friends” a glimpse into my daily activities but also recognized
that I had meandered far from my original intentions.
While exploring the potential of facebook, I’ve also visited
a number of blogs posted by artists, photographers, writers, nature lovers and
amateur philosophers. I found myself
reading through countless entries and exploring a vast array of imagery, often
amazed at the quality of the material and clarity of thought evidenced by the
contributions of unknown and unrecognized people. Obviously, there are a lot of very talented
folk out there who have never had access to an audience. Slowly (because everything with me happens
slowly) it dawned on me that a blog offered the ideal venue to achieve those
aims for which facebook was proving insufficient.
So I begin this blog with the intention of displaying images
of my paintings, prints, drawings and photographs, offering some insight into
my objectives, addressing technical issues and hopefully sparking productive
discussion. I also recognize the
inevitability that I will meander a bit, delve into topics off topic and offer
up personal observations, Furthermore, I wish to make clear that I welcome
criticism. For many years, on those rare
occasions my artwork has been displayed, it has received only polite praise,
which is gratifying but also a bit hollow.
Seldom am I satisfied with a finished work. Generally I see a multitude of glaring
faults. For me, painting is an endless
learning process. That’s why I keep on
doing it. Criticism is essential to this
process and can only lead me to further discovery and exploration.
So let’s get started.
