Monday, June 18, 2012

Change

"Stories." Oil on canvas, 48 x 48 inches. ©2012 Karine M. Swenson
This new painting is fresh off the easel. It was started even before the trip to Germany, and has undergone so many changes. I have been documenting different stages of each painting with my camera. I find that in order for a painting to improve, I have to let go of things that I may have gotten too attached to. It is so interesting how art parallels life. We get attached to comfortable things, and we fear change. Even change that is good for us! But in order to move forward in life and paint, we have to be willing to let go. That is what I am learning to do with my painting (and hopefully, my life.) If I photograph the stages of the painting, I find that it is easier, somehow, to move forward. That way, whatever I may have been attached to in the painting will be preserved as a digital image. What I am discovering, surprisingly enough, is that the things I thought were so good, so worthy of saving, really weren't as good as what came next. Now is that a valuable lesson, or WHAT?! All I have to do is figure out how to "photograph" or document the things in life I think are worth saving, so that I can let go of them. Maybe that's what painting (or art) is, ultimately. A way to document how we are at any given time in our lives. What do you think, fellow artists and painters?

"Artists are visionaries. We routinely practice a form of faith, seeing clearly and moving toward a creative goal that shimmers in the distance - often visible to us, but invisible to those around us. Difficult as it is to remember, it is our work that creates the market, not the market that creates our work."
                                                                                                                ~Julia Cameron, The Artist's Way

6 comments:

Stuart said...

Love this, Karine! The mountains miss you dearly....

Patty said...

...a way to document where we are at any given time in our lives...

We do that whether we realize it or not, don't we? We document our attitudes and feelings in brushstrokes, colors, and textures.

That's a powerful realization my friend.

WL said...

strong work - impressive.

WL said...
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carla saunders said...

Yes, I agree with you about how our paintings change. I end up posting a photo of a painting then coming back and thinking aghhh it's not finished! But I figure we are learning and growing. At least we are doing it. Thanks for stopping by my blog. I'll check in on you, too. I think the big thing for me right now is, Is this painting authentic to me? or am I trying out something I've seen on the internet.

Annie said...

I totally agree. For years I had a way of painting that worked for me and worked for the people who bought my paintings, but I got bored and did not even know why for the longest time, then I started changing how I worked and let go of all of it. Things will never be the same :-).
Lovely work.
xoxo