Where Am I Going?

via artemis dreaming

Finally--a little reflective time for blogging. Getting photos together today just seemed like too much effort after doing that constantly for other sites, like etsy and facebook (we won't count tumblr, because that's fun), so I might go with a little rant about my art goals (hopefully this advance notice won't be your signal to click out of here!).

I've been noticing that my attitude towards art has been changing over the past months--I've really become conscious that my output has slowed pretty radically. When I say slowed, I mean it often takes me weeks to advance to the next phase of the piece I'm working on because I'm searching for exactly what I'm trying to say or even why express it, which is an even thornier issue.

Four or five years ago when I was pretty much painting full time, I was very productive and the images felt like they were already finished in my head, that I just had to get them down on canvas. That's probably normal as they were part of an autobiographical series. Next I started making a series of canvas collages, which demanded a lot of thought about placement and just what they needed next. After that came assemblages and sculptural paper pieces. It's the collaged works that seem to stymie me, but they're also the ones I keep coming back to, even as I try to break with 2D and move completely on to 3D. So what I'm going to do for the next few weeks is finish up what's already started in my studio then re-evaluate the direction I want to take my work in 2011.

I'm not sure if this is a creative block, I've had those before of course but they don't usually last this long! I've managed to keep creating through this but it's not going away. So now I'm thinking it's got to be a turning point and hoping to gain some clarity on what's coming next by stepping away from it all for a time. This might mean blogging more, or working on the house, or (gasp) writing. There, I've set my intention-- that's step one. Stay tuned!