Last week I participated in a three day abstract workshop. For the past couple of years I have yearned to do more than paint literally what I see and feel. I have searched galleries, histories of artists, books of art, anything in the name of finding what called to me. I think that this is a very typical path for someone who really feels the calling. What I didn't expect was how very blocked I would become during this search.
At times this has made me feel despair that I will never be more than an artist who can paint pretty things. What was so fulfilling for a period has become mundane and never good enough because my heart wants more.
This was the second workshop that I've taken to reach for the abstract, yet in MY style. The workshop was led by Theresa Girard, who shared her whole heart and soul with us. The theme was nonobjective abstract, but my goal was to learn how to think "abstract" and apply it to my figures. I now feel excited and SCARED, but freer to allow myself to try to be bold. Fortunately, I am also taking a workshop with another artist inFebruary whose work I admire and who paints abstract so I won't have the time to doubt myself for long.
Onward!