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Tonight I began a new painting. One that is not for someone else, or one that must be completed in one evening. This painting is my first as I step back into painting AFTER finishing “My View”. There have been so many other details to contend with while preparing for the show and taking care of some commission work, which are the bread and butter to any artist.
Admittedly, I went down stairs with fear and trepidation. It is not difficult for me to throw up obstacles in my own path, and let them thwart my efforts and goals, all the while stifling my confidence. It seemed that the more I have waited to paint, the more pressure I put on myself about the outcome. As I surfed the web, relaxing and building my courage–enter Jackson Pollock. (a reminder of why I favor abstract expression above all genres of art)
Pollock is currently featured artist, by NGA, on their web gallery (link provided below). His unprecedented technique was best described as “a physical involvement with the act of painting”. Pollock spread his canvases on the floor, dribbled paint, sand and broken glass and often smeared and scratched. His friend and patron, Alfonso Ossorio, described Pollock’s artistic journey this way: “Here I saw a man who had both broken all the traditions of the past and unified them. Who had gone beyond cubism, beyond Picasso and surrealism, beyond everything that had happened in art….his work expressed both action and contemplation.”
I do not feel I am finished with tonight’s work, we will see how it goes…
Tonight the blog title is by Pollock. I think it is one of the coolest quotes about the art process…(and definitely worth repeating). Technique is just a means of arriving at a statement.