Sunday, October 4, 2015

A New Chapter

Last week or so I wrote a little bit about playing.  I've been thinking about this more in the past few days.  During our eye drawing week at school, I assigned the students to draw any kind of eye they wanted, even a made-up one.  There were some very imaginative eyes going on in my classroom.  I'd post pics of some of them, but I sent them home to get finished.  If I had been assigned to draw an eye, you can bet it would be drawn as close to perfect and as realistic as I could get it.  I occurred to me that I've been so focused on learning to draw and paint realistically and flawlessly that I have never experimented or tried to make new ideas just because they might be fun.  What my students were doing with their eye projects looked like just plain fun and I wanted to try it!
One of the few pieces I have done that was a process of play.
Virden Farm
Oil on canvas
18" x 24"
 Although I learned a lot of very good stuff in college, everything I turned out there was for a grade and a class to see and critique.  My technique had to be perfect to suit me, or as close to perfect as I could get it.  Please don't get me wrong, I enjoy painting very much.  It is exhilarating as something comes together like you have envisioned it- and nothing beats the feeling of stepping back and knowing it is finished and you like what you made.  But... am I missing something?
Another 'play' process, this was actually a joyful piece to make because I had no idea how it would turn out.
Blue Pitcher
Acrylic on primed board
4' x 3'

I think it might be a real learning experience to play and experiment for awhile.  I decided this afternoon that I am going to dedicate any studio time I get for awhile to 'dinking' around and just see what comes of it.  Can I even make imaginative art?  Can I just be whimsical?  Probably not at first, but who knows?  I might just find I have something to say in a whole new voice.  Whatever comes of it, I'm excited to begin.

Thanks for stopping by!  Alice

2 comments:

Juliana said...

Why is it so hard for some of us to play, I wonder? I can't wait to see what you come up with in your dinking around!

Alice Jo Webb said...

I think we work hard to gain respect for what we do from the time we are young. We focus on 'being the best' we can become and want to be taken seriously. I've felt for awhile now that we are focusing on the wrong things. Finding joy and living in happiness should be right up high on the success list. Of course, that's just my opinion!