I'll admit that until one night just before finals I was pretty skeptical that I made the right decision going back for my MFA. It's not that anything pointed to it being the wrong decision, just that nothing was adding up for me to believe it was THE decision. There's a lot of talk about school when you're in the artist world. Where to go, when to go, who to study with, how much it matters, how much you should pay for it, that it's all bullshit anyway... everyone, even non-artists, has their advice. My decision was practical and I took an opportunity not knowing what other ones would come along if I tried for it. It was a difficult choice. I think I am becoming okay with it. My new community is shining with possibility at the moment. I'm excited to be working so much on just painting and I'm looking forward to more conversations with people that I just recently have begun to talk to.
I'm still working with paper and abstraction. I have a tendency to bounce around and I'm trying to focus more on a consistent path. Although I could blame today's work on the holiday break, I know it's more an issue with how I work. I need to quit sooner than I do sometimes. I finished a painting that had space and depth and was happy with it, but wanted to start another one using the same techniques. Knowing this was a bad idea I started a new one anyway. It began innocently with subtle yellows and blues--I visited western Nebraska after Christmas and the colors are sticking with me--but then I sabotaged it. Soon it had an inky cloud with cartoon raindrops and a little dancing couple amid a wash of bright pink. It's ridiculously far from my intentions. Like ripping out knitting, though, everything is progress if you look at it the right way.
I realize there's a lack of paintings to look at this post. I need to catch up on recording my images and it's not going to be tonight. I'll post one I took out west near Crawford, Nebraska in the meantime. Clearly needs some hot pink in there, don't you think?
