To exist is to change, to change is to mature, to mature is to go on creating oneself endlessly.
― Henri Bergson, Creative Evolution, 1907
Whenever I come across this little experiment from back in 1994, I linger over it for a few minutes and smile a little. There’s a lot going on with plenty of bright colors and sharp angles but with a narrative element within it where I saw a person watching a Kabuki performance on their television. But more than that I am reminded of the decision to move away from this experiment and continue in the direction that eventually led me here.
You see, I enjoyed doing this work, enjoyed the process and the final product. I could have easily followed this path and been fairly happy. But it lacked something that, while I couldn’t really put a finger on it at the time, was found later in the work that I eventually produced in later years.
Heart? Soul? I can’t say. But it was fun at the time and makes me smile now. Plus, the lesson in learning what you can and can’t be is beyond value.
I wrote a bit more on this subject, also set off from this little painting, back in 2010:
Just looking through some old things, mostly little pieces that are from the time when I first started painting, and I came across this. At the time I was playing around with color and masking, where you put something such as tape on the painting surface and paint over it then peel it away to reveal the unpainted surface underneath. It can be a big part of traditional watercolor painting and I wanted to see if it fit with the way I thought and wanted to paint. It didn’t. But I did come up with this little abstraction that always catches my eye and makes my mind’s gears turn.
It’s always interesting to see these little pieces because it inevitably triggers memories of that time when every day was bringing new discoveries as I tried to learn more and more about color and different mediums. Sometimes things clicked and it was revelatory to discover my strengths. Other times, it was a struggle, and the end product was muddled, labored. But there was still something to be learned there. Like identifying my weaknesses and learning how to strengthen these areas or, at least, downplay them.
I guess that this is the process for development in any area of your life, playing up your strong suits and trying to cover your weaknesses. Perhaps that is why I like to see these old experiments, to be reminded of my growth, artistically and personally, through the years.
At least, what I perceive as growth.
This a replay of a replay of a post from 2010. When I came across this post with the 1994 Kabuki TV experimental piece earlier, it made me smile, as it always does. Figured that it would be an acceptable match for today’s Sunday Morning Music which is The Way It Goes from a longtime favorite of mine, Gillian Welch, along with her husband, David Rawlings. I put in two versions of the song– the 2011 album track and an audience filmed live version from 2018.
Redtree Times 