Tuesday, February 03, 2009

Some new stuff...finally finished...

So after that last post of mine I set about the task of finishing a couple of painting's. I have this habit of gettingthisclose to finishing something and then letting it sit for month's on end while I work on other stuff. It reminds me of the story of the construction worker/house repair guy that I saw on tv once. He would start a million projects at home that he did for his job every day, but would never finish them at home. Anyway, one of these hadn't been sitting too long...but the other...

Well, let's get on to the more important topic of "what was I thinking when I painted this" shall we? Hah. Good question. But as a dear friend recently pointed me in the direction of doing, I think it would be a good exercise to try and describe.

It all started with these old magazine ads I had from the fifties or sixties of girls modeling dresses. I would think they came from an old Sears or Penney's catalog. That's what it looked like at least. My intention was to try and collage them into something or another. I liked how they looked, but my only hesitation was I didn't want it to appear like too much of a style that I've seen before. I realize it's almost impossible to do, but I really like to at least try to create stuff that is original. I don't know if my idea seems so unoriginal anymore, but at the time I couldn't quite bring myself to actually collage them, and in the moment of trying to decide, I turned them over. Over they were just newsprint, written words...but they looked more blank, and they started to give me a feeling of vastness. Falling somewhat into the void. I took a single girl and this is what I came up with (as some of you have already seen as I finished this one awhile back.)


And then I had some extra time on my hands and was in the mood to play so I made this one, with two girls....

I guess painting is always about playing, but I was a bit nervous at the time because I was short several paintings and had committed to showing some in a local coffee shop. I've found that I don't much like painting "under a deadline" and have been trying to paint furiously ever since, so that if I am lucky enough to get another show, I don't have to feel that kind of pressure. Yuck. So at the time, this really was playing because I told myself it was "just for fun" and did not have to be part of the show. So of course, it ended up in the show, and it ended up selling. So that should probably tell me something right there. PLAY! ;) What I thought was even neater about this one was that it felt so much like it was me and my best friend from grade school...walking into the unknown. And then she wrote me later that she felt strongly attached to this painting and that it reminded her of us. I was sad because I had already sold it. So now I learned another lesson? Hold on to stuff that has sentimental value? I dunno....I would more if I wasn't such a broke ass. But then that's what gets me into that conundrum about selling. And yes, you really can't create if all you think about is selling.

So back then I started a third one with three girls. Now this was really going outside of my comfort zone, because kinda like the thing about not wanting my collage idea to look too much like something that had already been done, I rarely repeat an idea. My husband is always encouraging me to try that actually. I mean, I suppose some ideas sort of naturally repeat themselves... but this whole "stencil" idea that I ended up doing with these girls, well...not only are the stencils outside my norm, but repeating the idea over and over is definitely outside of my norm. So the third one got stuck. It was soft and blue....a moon, or maybe two were rising....I was still thinking "far away" like a memory. (Well really, that theme is still predominate to me in all of these...) But then I put it up. I was tired of the girls. And I had to move. And then when I tried coming back to it, it just wasn't working. Until one day I got frustrated and I just started painting over it w/ red or something, like I was just going to ditch the whole thing....and it became fun again. It became something more akin to play. And I became more interested in it. I even liked it. I got to a point where I knew it needed some tweaking, and I put it down. Until the other day... The girls look a little like aliens to me, beamed down Star Trek style, but I basically enjoy the warmness of the painting, and the togetherness of the three. It's a sun now, instead of a moon....now I feel like the girls are in it together, and that though far away from a reality, they are safe.


And somewhere in there while I was waiting for it dry or while I was doodling around with other things...I went and did another little one with the two girls. I like playing w/ texture, and sometimes there's no big hidden meaning to what I do...I think I said it before that I feel like the way these girls look to me, it almost doesn't matter what I do to them, they kind of create the same feeling. I'll probably drop this idea for awhile...except I did find one of these girls that was actually wearing pants the other day....
Hmmmm....



The end.
:)

5 comments:

Steve Emery said...

I like these - but particularly the last one. They seem to be going into the place where the warmest light is. And I really like the way you handled the paint textures.

Alissa said...

I really like these. I don't think you can worry too much about originality. As long as you aren't intentionally copying anything, your own ideas and aesthetic will seep through anyway.

Anonymous said...

Mimi keep rocking it.

Adam Mann said...

hey thanks for following me! hope my blog comes into good use to you. very nice paintings by the way. i love the sunset painting and the colors in the sun

Jennifer Williams said...

These are really cool! I like how you only do the silouettes versus the cutesy girls that seem to be going around lately. I gives them an air of mystery.