Blogging Anew

Please disregard my last post since clearly I had lost my mind and had no idea what I was talking about.

So it’s a New Year and time for a new approach to things and a fresh start with life in general. The first thing I’d like to mention that’s going to change is this blog (hey, didn’t I say that before??)

What is going to change is the focus of my blog. While art is still going to be a huge part of it I’ve decided to “broaden my horizons” as it were and would like to include writing and gardening, an art form in and of itself (those that had followed me for awhile and know my love of diggin' in the dirt). Right now, unfortunately, life is too busy for me to work on art as much as I’d like to; but not busy enough that I can’t indulge in writing about some of the inexplicable things that happen to me over the course of a day.

The other thing that slowed me down was that my beloved computer finally had enough of my not backing things up and leaving files of a ridiculous size on its hard drive and, well… it died. Tragic, I know, but it happens to the best of us.

So, as it happens, not too long ago I acquired another computer and am now back up and running with memory out the yin yang! I still have to transfer some things (specifically images, which is why there aren’t any in this post) over from the old hard drive and get myself something to back up all my files. I consider my lesson learned.

So I haven’t dropped off the face of the earth, I’ve just been wandering aimlessly on its surface trying to figure out what to do with my blog. I’ve figured it out and hope that you’ll join me for the ride…

Artists and their multiple personalities

"Beyond Black & White I" ACEO can be bid on here.
Copyright Rita Woodburne

Happy Friday, dear reader!

Well, today I'm going to forego the silliness. Instead I'd like to pass along to you a few posts that were done by Maggie Stiefvater this week on the subject of style, more specifically, developing one's style. I figure that these would be relevant reading since I had touched on the subject of developing style briefly in my post this week on Van Gogh. Also, Maggie has a very dry (that's the polite alternative to saying 'sarcastic') sense of humour much like my own so you'll still be entertained. Trust me.

The relevant posts can be found here and here.

She also did a follow up to some comments/ questions that readers had asked her but if you want to read those I suggest you head to her blog yourself. I can't do all the work for you.


My own thoughts are that she's pretty much hit the nail on the head. Artists should explore, play and experiment with different mediums and styles until they find what's comfortable for them. After that, try working that style and medium to your liking in order to create art that's satisfying for you. Gently forcing the development of one's style isn't a bad thing... unless you get carried away with it in which case you're quite likely to suck the fun right out of doing art. And that should never happen.

Looking around my own studio I can see a bit of a mish-mash of styles but, happily, what I do notice is that my more recent works are more consistent. On the down-side, it makes me want to hide away those works that don't fit.
Many of the ACEO's I've done lately aren't really consistent in style. However, they're small and I do them specifically for the purpose of both experimenting with different subjects and techniques and also to supplement my income. They're not the be all and end all to who I am as an artist (or what type of an artist I want to portray myself as) because that's what the bigger pieces are for! If I start to become labourious over a piece that size then I'm going to be in a heap of trouble when I get to the bigger stuff.

There's nothing wrong with experimenting because that could be when you get your next big inspiration or revelation about what you want to tweak in your style. Artists, and their collectors, should expect change and try to harness it in the best way they can to make it work for them.


So, that's the post for today. I highly recommend trying out what Maggie suggested and putting all your work together and weed out: the pieces that almost caused you to have an aneurysm, the ones that even your Grandmother would say "Ick" to and the ones that just didn't feed your artistic soul (I know, how airy-fairy). What's left and why?

Homework? For the week-end? You betcha!