I’ve spent some time recently rummaging through my racks and looking at work I have not seen in some years. Initially my quest was driven by the thought that I might find several old pictures I would never exhibit again, but which had good frames I could recycle. To my surprise, however, there have been a couple of occasions when I have been struck by the quality of work I have long dismissed as no longer worthy of attention.
I was surprised in particular today by one item (painted in 2008, and possibly exhibited only once) which I had almost forgotten about completely. Putting it up on an easel this morning I was quite taken aback by the potential it still has. Perhaps I need to make a few subtle changes here and there. Before making any commitment I will allow it to sit there for a little while. I must say that on initial reacquaintance, however, I was pleasantly surprised. Perhaps I need to do this more systematically.
I wonder whether the problem arises where I have had quite high initial expectations of a piece, and then when it wasn’t snapped up eagerly by a waiting world I hid it away in disappointment and forgot about it. It does look as if this is not a sound habit to fall into.
Incidentally, I hadn’t registered before today just how sociable life as an artist can be. I drove over to Thornton to deliver a piece to the framer who does most of my work these days. After half an hour of conversation I thought I might drop into the Unit 9 Gallery, to refresh my memory of the current exhibition there. An encounter there with the South Square Centre Administrator lasted rather longer than expected. As I was shaping up to leave another member of the Unit 9 group turned up, and invited me down to her studio for a cup of tea. How could I refuse? That accounted for another three quarters of an hour. We really are quite a sociable lot, we artists.