Negative Space

I Feel Like Negative Space

10.5" x 13"

Watercolor and Graphite

Daily Wallspace is my effort to make more art, simply, to have a daily routine by which I paint and draw. In doing so, I hope to improve my artistic skills and  gain a sense of direction in my painting. I'm reading a light theoretical book called Art & Fear: Observations On The Perils (and Rewards) or Artmaking in which the authors emphasize the importance of plain hard work in pursuing one's art. They (Bayles and Orland) write, "Artists get better by by sharpening their skills or by acquiring new ones; they get better by learning to work, and by learning from their work. They commit themselves to the work of their heart, and act upon that commitment" (28). This seems obvious, but the strength in their argument for me, is that only with a body of work do you gain a sense of your own strengths and weaknesses, your habitual gestures, your mistakes, your thought processes, and only with a body of work do you learn to be objective about your art, to view it without self-judgement and emotion.