Joy of Brushwork

A nice profile, like the light on the mouth.

And the Need to Stay Positive

I recently reviewed many of my artworks with my portrait and figure drawing instructor. It was great to get a review and analysis with another artist whom I greatly respect. While I cannot remember our exact conversation I did realize as we went through my art, that I was overly negative. My Instructor was positive and asked "What did you learn from this, what do you like?"

I confessed to my art instructor that I had about 450 paintings in my basement, that I held on to almost all portrait paintings that I created these last 5 years. Not all of the paintings are masterpieces, not all are complete. I just had no idea what to do with the art in the basement and no idea where to start and how to let go. Once again, (you are the best) my instructor had an idea for me. "What about taking photos and creating a book, keep the book and toss the paintings?" Such a great idea, I like it! And that will make for easier storage.

And so it begins:

Fabric folds, painted prettily.

Last week, I reviewed my documentation (thumbnail drawings of each painting, by date). Thank goodness I had documentation. I reviewed the early years of my portrait painting: 2014-2015, 150 works. I noted my thumbnails of works that I thought we less successful, and then had to cull through all my works to find those paintings. This took a bit of time, as I had identified about 50 paintings. I was unable to find a few, but most were lying there gathering dust. I decided to keep a few paintings-- those that had color touches or wonderful color blocking (just a few) got moved into small "keep" stack. The toss stack ended up being about 3 feet tall, and this is with mostly canvas boards! Eek!

Next, I used my phone to photograph each painting and then get a close up of any aspect of the painting that was good. This was a long but wonderful experience. It took many hours, but I was able to find something good in each work. I noticed that I had some great brushstrokes in each work, some great eyes (a few) and some lovely fabric folds.

Last, I got all the photos onto my computer and organized them. I ended up with 45 paintings that I should let go. Then I went to Shutterfly to create a photobook of those images. I decided on an 8x11 size photobook, with about 35 pages. I put multiple images on each page, especially if they were images of the same model. After I had tentatively placed the images, I went back in and added the positive text/comments about the paintings.

Yesterday, I placed the book order. I am excited about this small 1 inch book replacing 3 feet of paintings. Once I get the book, I plan to get rid of the works. Wow, if I keep this up I will have a better organized storage space in my basement -- it needs it! And, if this is successful, I still have 3 more years worth of work to go through and another book or two to create!

Steps to Let Go:

1. Review paintings
2. Stack the keepers and the not keepers
3. Photograph the not keepers (full images and close ups)
4. Organize photos on your computer
5. Create a photobook (I used Shutterfly)
6. Toss or paint over the not keeper paintings