I have been working on a new series of watercolour portraits 'beauty is in the eye'.... This series explores a fluid wet-in-wet method of portrait making.This week coming is the final week of my hearts series over at Etsy. Following on from that, I am going to be offering a 'week of...' - each week having a particular design theme. So, for example, the week after next will be a week of painting.....
Other design themes may include: a week of brooches, a week of dolls, a week of birds, a week of mixed media, a week of snowglobes, a week of poetry...... you get the idea.
When I wrote a list of all the different 'things' that I make, currently or in recent times have made, I realised I have quite wide scope to my creative output. Is this a good thing? I ask myself that a lot. Should I just be concerning myself with one thing. But the thing is that one thing is never going to be..... one thing.... Is it? Anyone who really knows me (I know that is perhaps a tricky thing to define but hey-ho) knows that I am not a one-thing sort of woman. I've often read magazine articles about established artists who have spent many many years creating steadily, their 'one thing' developing gently and or passionately over time, their one thing so very their own. And I wonder how do they do it, that one thing for so long.... But then as you read the article it becomes clear that they don't really have this one thing, that in their 'spare time' they make something completely different, or they're a semi-professional musician or table tennis champion, or something like that.... There are so many anxieties to being a creative artist. Not only the anxiety of influence but the anxiety of the one thing.....:)
I like the idea of working and presenting my work in this way. Keeping the ideas flowing. It will be specific to my Etsy shop, which has become something of a themed event gallery:) Well, I shall see how this weekly idea works out.
Meanwhile my own shop http://cathycullis.bigcartel.com will be the main place for all my current work, larger pieces and continuing obsessions.
8 comments:
I wouldn't describe myself as an artist (yet) but I definitely recognise the instinct to be creatively involved in a wide range of, well, everything. I think it must be curiosity that makes me like this. Look forward to seeing your themes.
Like your watercolours. I admire artists who experiment across the board. It seems to me to be a lot easier to stick to the same kind of thing all the time, re-working and perfecting. From what I have seen you have a gift, an amazing sensitivity, which you are able to express in many different forms and medium. Keep exploring...
"their one thing so very their own" - so very their own. hmm. i like the sound of that. and try as we might to make that one thing our own, others are right behind us, imitating to their heart's content. what is the one thing that is my own? i don't know. i haven't a clue. surely there is something i do that is mine, and mine alone... but i have no clue as to what that is.
you have many wonderful forms of artwork, of expression, and i'm enthralled with ALL of it - your beautiful poetry, your monoprint drawings, your dolls, your embroidery, your collaged pieces. i even have a "spoon" that is embroidery/collage/paper mache/words. keep creating, keep exploring, keep inspiring us to do the same! xx nina
Thank you for writing this post. I've always been a commercial or "professional" artist and have done many more than "one" thing. I did scale models/miniatures to learn about perspective and assembly. I did textiles to explore texture and digital graphics to explore shapes, forms and color. Photography was an exploration in light. Perhaps I am getting ready to paint? LOL I think we are teaching ourselves through each medium and each one contributes to the whole. Excellence and a fully formed vision is the goal at the end of the day.
Hi Cathy, I definitely think, as an artist, you have to do "what comes" and be free and open to what is inside you. I like all the things that you make and all the subjects and media you explore. I think it's perfect!
I have just posted about your hearts today and now taking a short blog break but hope to keep in touch
Hope you had a good weekend and have a good creative week ahead. I shall be following your new series with much interest
Carolyn x
Love your watercolours, especially the second one. x
You know, I think the "week of..." is a great idea and related to the Week of Autumn Color I participated in over at Poppytalk this past week. I ended up submitting and posting old work for each day's color, but it really got me thinking, hat if I actually sat down and made some new work based on these parameters? Sometimes I really need some boundaries or limitations to get my brain going. Anyway, would you mind if I did something similar? Or maybe we could do something in tandem, even? Hm... Let me know what you think.
I have tried in the past to focus on one thing, it never works and I find myself thinking of doing anything but the thing I am focussing on!
Just do what comes naturally...your 'thing' is having lots of things on the go :)
I look forward to seeing the new series'
x
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