cedar’s blog

Cedar February 11th, 2008

I have 2 changes of plans.

First change of plans:

I had told everyone that I was going to be working on a new body of work but that I wouldn’t reveal any of the paintings until the body of work is complete. I thought that it would be a good exercise in self-reflection–to see the direction my art might take when I am the only one who sees it, and there is no influence from the outside world.

It was a good idea in theory, and I know a lot of artists work that way, but I’m starting to realize that it isn’t going to work for me. For one thing, it’s fun to share my new developments with you. It’s encouraging to soak up your “oohs” and “aaahs” and it’s helpful to my growth to hear your criticisms and suggestions. I need that–I work out of my small studio in my home and rarely make real contact with the outside world, especially during winter when I have a tendency to hibernate. The exception is the realm of my social life, which gives my gregarious spirit a much-needed boost, but is more or less separate from my work life.

Also, the process of photographing a new work of art, cropping the photo, uploading it to my website and my blog, and writing about it, while tedious at times, is a tangible marker for me–a ritual of closing one project and moving on to the next, that helps me. It creates a record of all my work, which I can look back on with a glance to see where I’ve been and where I’m going.

So I’m going back to my old way of doing things–I’ll post all of my new work here as I create it.

With that lengthy explanation, I give you 2 recent works:

Heaven and Earth
Oil on Canvas
24″ x 36″ (Made up of 2 separate panels of 12″ x 36″, hung on the wall with about an inch between them)

Morning Sunbeams
Oil on Canvas
(Same dimensions as Heaven and Earth)

Morning Sunbeams in a sunny bedroom:

Second change of plans:

The daily paintings of cats–I had told you that I would be doing a series of daily paintings, cat portraits. I keep trying to get a start on this project, but my other work is continually beckoning.

I want to make more progress on these multiple-panel landscapes and see if the idea goes anywhere or if it ends up being a temporary experiment…I have to make new work to send to my galleries this spring…I’m planning trips out of town to talk to new art dealers…I’m in charge of organizing my family’s first family reunion in 13 years, which will happen in July…I’m trying really hard to eat well and get enough exercise…I have a household to run and pets to take care of and….blah blah blah. You get it.

I am simply going in too many different directions at once to be a daily painter on top of it all. I think I was too ambitious…most daily painters do one painting a day and post it online for sale. They don’t try to do one painting a day while simultaneously working on 5 ideas for other paintings, supplying galleries with new work, etc. They just do one painting a day. Not that that’s any small feat, which is my point. If I’m going to be a daily painter I can’t do so many other things at the same time.

So here’s the new plan: I will create 20 portraits of cats. I will work as quickly as I can, and I won’t stop until I’ve got 20, but it’ll take as long as it takes. I won’t pressure myself to finish one per day. If I need to focus on a landscape, or on the business side of my work for a few days, I will.

So, enough lengthy explanation.

Here are the first two cats in my series:

Tommy
Acrylic on Canvas
8 x 10″

Skitterbug
Acrylic on Canvas
10 x 8″

And more cat portraits are in progress!

• Cedar's Blog