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The Patchwork Painting


This painting didn’t really start out as a painting. One day I had the idea that I wanted to use any extra paint that was left on my palette after a painting session for something fun and creative. I drew out a grid on an old canvas and any time I found myself with globs of paint leftover I would use it to fill a square with some drawing or layer of color. I quickly realized that this was good for more than just using up the paint, it was allowing me to be creative in an entirely free way. What I produced each time was contained only by the small squares, not by any idea of what I was painting or how it ought to look. And most importantly, I really didn’t care how it looked. I just drew whatever came to mind in the quickest, most intuitive way I knew how. After doing this for a while unthinkingly one day I looked at the canvas and suddenly realized that it was turning into a real painting, and though in some ways it seemed like a silly painting, I also realized that I really liked it. It was something that I never would have done had I been trying to create a “real” piece of art, but I found that it was original and playful and narrative and effortless and interesting. I also discovered during the process of making it that it is a piece which speaks to a sort of indecision and feeling of dividedness in my own painting practice. I am often deeply annoyed by my seeming lack of ability to pursue any one style, subject, or technique wholeheartedly. I have a desire to develop a clear identity as an artist, but I also have a desire to try everything and attempt to execute every single idea that comes into my head. So as I was filling in these squares it was almost like I was getting out my anger about this dilemma, with each square I thought “here’s another thing”, “and another”, “none of this makes sense together”. Yet strangely, as the painting started taking shape, I was shocked to find that it did make sense. It made sense because by working in that quick and unhindered way I was channeling only my own artistic voice rather than that of anybody else. I was completely bypassing the urge to try to work in a style that wasn’t my own or to produce something that didn’t actually align with my own vision. So not only do I think this is a really cool painting, I’m also very grateful for what it had to teach me. My sister referred to it as a patchwork painting so that’s what I’m calling it.






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