Above: The Hearing Forest and The Seeing Field by Hieronymus Bosch.
Now that I'm feeling a little bit better, I've been doing some preparation work for some new paintings of mine. That means LOTS of research. I quite like it. I wonder when people see my paintings if they realize that there are hundreds of layers and that each layer has a meaning and a source of content. In any event, I came across some Hieronymus Bosch drawings. The one above is my favorite. Part of me wants to move to Berlin just so that I can go to the Staatliche Museen and examine it in person.
Above: The Hearing Forest and The Seeing Field by Hieronymus Bosch.
5 comments:
Bosch is one of my absolute favorite painters. I sit here typing below a giant poster of the Garden of Earthly Delights.
I did a necklace once based on the fountain. Carved it in porcelain, and it hung upside down from the neck, down the chest. And as I look at the fountain now, I think I see an owl peeking out from the center. I haven't noticed that in years...
Do you show your paintings, or are they more private?
I used to show and sell my paintings extensively to private collectors. Though eventually I started showing in a few small galleries and at various charity functions.
Right now I'm at a cross-roads, it seems. I'm moving through the doldrums of my fine artist career and trying to re-discover my voice, my key to the Deeper Well.
I hate to say that I think that finally finishing my art degree sort of injured my creative spirit, but it's sort of true. So, I am in the process of starting anew. Though not completely. When I do post some pictures of my new work, you'll see what I mean.
Did you finish your art degree at the master's level? I cannot really speak to that, since I only got a bachelor's degree in art, but I will say that I was woefully unprepared when I graduated.
Now, I was not a painter in any way and actually sort of rejected fine art for craft, but I think I experienced a similiar thing. I am also married to a painter/illustrator (chucklukacs.com) and my brother is a fine artist in ceramics(who just graduated at the master's level) so these issues seem to be pretty familiar in my family.
Graduating really crushed my creative spirit and left me floundering for over a year, for many reasons. Not going to school and interacting with other artists and intellectuals almost every day, dealing with the real world of making a living, and not having access to a studio were all major setbacks for me.
I discovered that the biggest hardship, and this may sound weird, was to not have the pressure and limitations of assignments and projects. That may just be my personality but until I learned to limit my own thoughts and creative endeavors, I was overwhelmed by wanting to make EVERYTHING! When I was in school, I dreaded the assignments and deadlines but once I was out, I was almost paralized by opportunity.
It was like starting new, and learning how to think and structure again.
I actually didn't get my masters yet. I just spent a really long time getting my undergraduate degree and doing residencies. I think the residencies were the best. They were like a creative pressure cooker where you were mixed together with people from all over the globe.
I want to get my masters. And I'm at a point where I have to decide if I want to go through with the New York Teaching Fellows program in Special Education, or get my masters in fine arts. If I do the fellowship, it's more secure and provides job placement while you're learning. But it's not exactly what I want to do.
I know what you mean about the opportunity thing. There is so much potential. And it is hard to narrow down what one wants to do and can do. I often times wish that I didn't have to have a day-job, but I think that it helps balance me out and forces me to take advantage of my free time. Though, I need so much more time to just make my art.
One of the things that I miss is the academia side of the art world. All too often in the actual art world, there are those who simply schmooze and flirt and as I like to say, "butter biscuits". With the academic side, you have to think and have thoughts and you can't just be pretty or know someone who knows someone.
So here are the doldrums and it's a marshland.
can I just say I like the owl?
deep thoughts by Jean
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