Changing Perspectives

Journey through Memory. 12" x 36" acrylic and graphite on cradled wood panel.

I recently joined a local art association that newly offers a monthly Artist's Circle, among other programs. I've never really participated in a sharing/critique group before, though I have looked for opportunities to join one. So after feeling out how this kind of art sharing works, I brought along two paintings to get some feedback. One of those I'll share with you later, but the other one you can see above, now named Journey through Memory. 

I learned a potent lesson about directionality when I told the group that I thought this piece was done. I presented a vertical piece to them and one artist, Barbara O'Brien, said that her Irish background made her wish I'd turn it on its side to look like the beautiful landscape she remembers.

When you're working on a piece, even an abstract, you do sense a directionality to it and it's hard to unsee that and imagine it otherwise. Barbara and another artist both saw the potential for this piece to "lie down" and how it could transform it into something much more wonderful.

"Now it tells a story!

They were so right! I knew instantly that this was how the painting wanted to be seen. I was so glad I'd been open to a new perspective on this piece I really loved. Barbara said: "Now it tells a story," and she was right again. Whoever looks at it can imagine a voyage, a village, a road or stream through rolling green hills, with mystery and memory lying in the hint of an ancient tree. ​