Happy Birthday Process!

Woo-hoo! An anniversary! October 10th, 2005, marked my first post. My initial intent was to document my process as an artist. No, that's not quite true. My intent was that the blog would serve as a document of the artwork I made as a result of that process, i.e., a picture blog with a few sentences posted under each finished painting or artwork, more or less briefly describing my thought process as it related to the work. A mini-statement, if you will. (A plan, I might add, that had I stuck with, would have bailed me out of the recent statement fiasco of 2010.) A mere twelve days later marked my first pity party post where I let my guard down: I had broken a toe while training for a marathon and received two rejection letters in one day. It was also in this post that I revealed, that on occasion, I have doubts and insecurities, and that as confident as I think I am, I do, in fact, relish questioning my capabilities and admit to being a sensitive artist. Five years later, I still like to question my capabilities and I am still a sensitive artist. But other than that, much has changed in five years.

Then: Lived and worked in Culver City, California
Now: Live and work in Nashville, Tennessee
Then: Worried a lot about if I would ever have another show.
Now: Worry a little about whether I will ever have another show.
Then: Obsessive and copious amount of works on paper, large paintings.
Now: Smaller paintings, prone to being obsessively detailed.
Then: Fear of impasto
Now: Love impasto
Then: Team Fang & Fife
Now: Otto
Then: Abstraction, Technicolor palette
Now: Landscape? Figures? Colors from Nature? Abstraction?
Then: Married, Adjunct Art Faculty
Now: Single, Speed reading, "What Color is Your Parachute?"

And so forth and so on. The blog still serves as an archive of what I was thinking or doing- who I was on a particular date. I don't revisit the posts except if I'm trying to remember something- like what events might have triggered a painting, or see what a painting looked like before it transmogrified before my very eyes.

Some other things have changed- some good, some difficult, some challenging. There's also a realization that life is short, and it's never too late. I should really hook up the nice stereo system and sell the uncomfortable sofa, soon.

The blog knows all.
Happy Birthday Process.

I read some Ruskin for breakfast.

I am so behind in titling paintings, but this one was bestowed with a title the other day.

Surfing Rococo: The Pleasure House Tide

But there are others. And a couple of them are getting ready to go in a group exhibition, so they need titles too. And Ruskin is a great place for harvesting titles. Or was. But today at breakfast, while reading Ruskin, instead of title fodder, I came across a new motto for the studio wall. He wrote it in all caps too. “EXCELLENCE OF THE HIGHEST KIND, WITHOUT OBSCURITY, CANNOT EXIST.”

Verily that.

I’ve been back in town for a couple of days and am hustling for jobs and catching up on work-related stuff. I also made some rounds in the bloggersphere (or blogosphere, as I would have preferred to spell it) to see what up with everyone. Carla has some fab work and will be in New American Paintings, Tracy's having a a great solo show and will go to AAF. She also has some really hot palette porn up. Steven posted a new painting that brought forth some interesting discussion regarding aesthetics and taste, or why a certain painting was a lighting rod for positive comments, more so than some other of his paintings. I've also enjoyed seeing a connection between Eva's work and a painting she posted by her mom.

I am, however, thinking of doing some target practice at the local firing range. Cheaper than therapy.

Lesser Bloggers Might have Given Up By Now.

I have been blogging consistently since October 10, 2005. Based on the anonymous info that sitemeter sends me I had three visitors today. One person was looking for the 'Feudal System' and another was looking for 'Banksy'. Usually I would have a fourth visitor hoping to garner information about 'My routine.'


I'm so laughing.

But the big news is that..... ta-da, today marked the first watercolor of 2009. I say first, because I started and finished it today. I've worked on finishing up some 2008, 2007 watercolors thus far in the New Year, but yep, this was the first brand new one, though it doesn't scream 2009. I need to take some time to consider what 2009 should be about.

Mary Addison Hackett, Not yet titled, 2009, 6 x 9in. watercolor and gouache on paper

Also I think I may have done a social networking faux-pax. Someone mis-quoted a Kandinsky quote and then attributed it to Paul Klee. I chimed in that it was a Kandinksy quote. I wasn't trying to be a know-it-all, but it's one of my favorite quotes and I have it on my studio wall. I was pretty much ignored after that, so maybe I shouldn't have been such a quotation cop.

I'm wondering how many people actually understand my sense of humor.