I happen to like deadlines. They give me a target and help organize my schedule. That does not mean I always make the easy choice in being prepared for them. Here is an example.
I recently realized that in preparing for a big show I had forgotten I wanted to paint a new piece for an upcoming auction submission. The "smart" decision would be to submit something I already had or paint a piece which would not take a lot of time or research. An idea spurred me to go looking through what I thought were some great bison reference I took this past summer in Yellowstone. They didn't excite me.
Hmm. I wanted to submit something special and so I went hunting through my reference to see what sparked an idea. This all started one evening at 9:30 pm.
After my show in Easton, Maryland this past November, I headed for a day at The National Gallery, Smithsonian. My idea was to gather reference for another painting of paintings like Art Appreciation (see post July 30, 2011) http://besseart.blogspot.com/2011_07_01_archive.html
What if I did something like that for the submission?
Yeah. Crazy. A deadline approaching and I'm going to paint several master paintings in a painting? But, I really wanted to and I was getting more excited by the minute. Next, research. I had the titles of the paintings but why were they hanging together? What connection did these artists have? Who should I add to "people" the piece? What size should I make the painting?
Inspiration is a funny thing. By 4:15 am, I had figured out my composition, done the research and prepared my board with two coats of gesso. Next was the drawing (a huge job which took several more days) and then I could start on painting the wall. I'll save which master paintings I am painting until a future post.
Stay tuned.
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