More Learning: This Time about Making Art

Critique June 11, 2015 I am taking online courses in painting and drawing and realize I need to practice basics, even while I am making art. I am starting to think I paint impulsively, though some or the early works are ones I feel satisfied about, though they were technically uninformed. In contrast, I have the feeling that if I had more of the fundamentals, I’d be much more able. For example, after struggling to resolve issues in a current painting, I just cut the canvas from the frame and kept the part of the painting that works (my opinion here). My Sistah Meema and I talk about what can happen when we loosen up in our work. From that vantage point, I see some early works I really like, and was engaged with, how I trusted the experience to guide me through techniques that produced work I like. These ruminations bring me back to this quote: “Before enlightenment you carry the water and chop the wood. After enlightenment you carry the water and chop the wood.”