Every now and again I do a painting that's 'special' to me.
I'm not too sure why they are special or why they happen as they do
...or at the time they do.
But I know once I have completed them that they are going to stay with me
...that they will never be sold!
The first 'Special' one was a portrait of an old Aboriginal man which I called 'Gumman'.
He literally fell out of me onto the canvas. The entire painting was done in less than 2hrs!
I had been asked to be part of a joint exhibition in New York in 2015 and I was searching for something to paint.
I had inherited a very old book written by an anthropologist who had travelled by camel into the centre of Australia where he studied and lived with the Aboriginals, he also took some amazing photo's.
I loved the small sepia one of Gumman
...I was taken with the beautiful structure of his noble profile.
I also wondered if he was looking into the future...or back to the past....
To this day I still marvel at this painting and how beautiful it is.
He hangs with pride in my house and when ever I look at him I am reminded that I did this and that maybe I'm not too bad an artist.
And I am always taken back to how magnificent this race are... and I'm compelled to remember where we as humans have come from and how little we need in this life!
As I said this painting was created in 2015 and was the first of my specials.
The next one arrived only the other day..I didn't know that she was going to be a special until I had finished her.
I can't say she fell out of me or that she was done in a matter of hours..
She was a bit of a struggle to be honest. But I pushed through and got her out and on to the canvas. Little did I know at the time that she was the first painting of my 'new direction'.
The other interesting thing is I hadn't realised that I had lost my ..zest for painting.
I just thought I hadn't the time and that all the other things in my life were taking me away from being a practising artist.
When I completed this woman and started to paint and draw portraits again..I realise that I was just ...for want of a better word...BORED with what I had been doing.
I needed to be challenged. I needed to get right out of my comfort zone. I needed to get frightened and scared. I haven't felt these emotions since I started out as an artist.
In going with this new 'flow' I have also realised that I need to learn how to TRUST ME again......trust in my ability as an artist.
I can say I'm really loving what I'm doing and what I'm learning about myself in the process.
I have just noticed how very different these two paintings are!
I know now, that these 'SPECIAL' paintings come along at important times in my artistic life ...maybe when I need to learn an important lesson?
So the long and short of it is ...I think as artist and people we need to keep pushing ourselves and seeing where our life and talents will take us.
But mostly we need to learn to TRUST IN OURSELVES!
Until next time
Sandy