Monday, January 5, 2015

Intentions

The New Year has arrived....where did the old one go...went by much too fast for my taste...
I don't make New Year resolutions anymore.  Over my many years I've found they don't hold up very well...broken pretty fast... and most were pretty unrealistic.  Most were made based on trying to make myself and my life into what I or others thought it should be. That never really works and is usually way too much work....a recipe for failure.

But I do like the idea of an opportunity to put fresh paint on a new canvas....or even an old canvas that needs to be reworked or refreshed.  And so  I turn to intention.  The dictionary defines intention as "a determination to act in a certain way."   But I like to think of intention as an idea of what  and how I would like to feel and do....and if indeed that intention is met so be it.  If not....well at least I was able to feel it.
And the way I find it best to express my feelings and desires is to art journal...with no expectations other than to get it out of my head and on a page.

The face emerged from what was supposed to be a loose black and white exercise I saw on Jane Davies blog.  I admire her work and sometimes feel my work is a little too precise.   I long to make abstract paintings and felt this would help.  But apparently I wasn't quite ready for that so rather than resolve that I would make art like Janes I decided to go with what I needed to do with that technique...that face just had to come out....a mixture of light and dark.... which at this moment in time suits me perfectly.