…. it would seem that the “Mills of Art” also “grind slowly”. I have spent a good part of the day engaged in the kind of reviewing process I mentioned in an earlier blog, and it is turning out to be a very interesting experience.
In the sorting task I mentioned earlier I have decided to focus on a large group of images dealing in various ways with trees and woodland themes. In fact, I have unearthed about twenty pieces, the oldest going back to 2007. These have now been arranged around the spare bedroom. Several aspects of this material are interesting …. the shift from, pastel to acrylic, for example, and the move to a palette of far stronger colours. There is also a contrast between pieces which are, straightforwardly, studies of trees, and those which make clear their preoccupation with trees as symbolic, in some sense.
One of the most striking aspects of this process has been the result of my invitation to my wife to tour the “exhibition” and give me her comment on the work. I am always interested to receive her response to what I do, and she is both articulate and perceptive …. even ‘though we don’t always see eye to eye. She enthuses, for example, about one little study of birches in winter which I regard as no more than “OK”. Sometimes it can be quite challenging to have to state why I thought a particular image to be worth bothering with. At the end of the day I have plenty to think about.
We will be spending there next couple of days in the company of one of my sons and his family, so it will be possible to come back to the task freshly after a break. There is no hurry, as it is becoming clear that we might not actually be moving house until early March. Perhaps in that interval I might have the opportunity to repeat the exercise with some other elements of my work.