Jeanie Smith
Artist Statement
October 2010
Artist Statement
October 2010
SYNERGY
As I continue to paint, I now realize it is impossible for me to paint with intent. That is, with a decision to paint a certain form, image or idea.
Understanding my own art history since the age of five has contributed to my sense of creativity. I am now focusing on letting that history decide along with inspiration what will appear on the canvas. This process is not for the weak of heart. The blank canvas calls for a plan. Instead, I pick up a water soluble pencil and draw forms and lines. Next comes the paint using massive amounts of color combinations. Out of this, an image, sometimes many images will emerge. At times, more lines are added and some colors are repainted a different color…or lighter…or darker. So it goes until at some unidentifiable point, I stop.
The next step is to turn the painting upside down. Eventually, I find the right position and sign it. I let my intuitive self guide me through. This process works for me, out comes the push and pull….imbedded in the plastic nature of a contempory abstract painting, with all parts contributing to the whole, even with the unpredicted behavior of each separate part. The end result is emergent behavior.
Now I am exploring less detail in my work, a monumental change in the way I paint. More emphasis is put on the flexibility of color, pushing every boundary. Understanding the risk of forms coming from some inner source combined with previous insight, gives me confidence to continue. Mostly, I enjoy how forms relate to each other, some floating, some in front or behind, mutating and pulsing. Each piece is created with great joy, without expectation, flowing from one canvas to the next.
The name of the work comes quickly, representing a feeling or something in my mind at the time of the painting. Some observers comment on reading the titles first and then coming back to look at the paintings.
This year, each title has no capitalization, an attempt to downplay their importance. After all, the observer will create the end painting
Please enjoy.
Understanding my own art history since the age of five has contributed to my sense of creativity. I am now focusing on letting that history decide along with inspiration what will appear on the canvas. This process is not for the weak of heart. The blank canvas calls for a plan. Instead, I pick up a water soluble pencil and draw forms and lines. Next comes the paint using massive amounts of color combinations. Out of this, an image, sometimes many images will emerge. At times, more lines are added and some colors are repainted a different color…or lighter…or darker. So it goes until at some unidentifiable point, I stop.
The next step is to turn the painting upside down. Eventually, I find the right position and sign it. I let my intuitive self guide me through. This process works for me, out comes the push and pull….imbedded in the plastic nature of a contempory abstract painting, with all parts contributing to the whole, even with the unpredicted behavior of each separate part. The end result is emergent behavior.
Now I am exploring less detail in my work, a monumental change in the way I paint. More emphasis is put on the flexibility of color, pushing every boundary. Understanding the risk of forms coming from some inner source combined with previous insight, gives me confidence to continue. Mostly, I enjoy how forms relate to each other, some floating, some in front or behind, mutating and pulsing. Each piece is created with great joy, without expectation, flowing from one canvas to the next.
The name of the work comes quickly, representing a feeling or something in my mind at the time of the painting. Some observers comment on reading the titles first and then coming back to look at the paintings.
This year, each title has no capitalization, an attempt to downplay their importance. After all, the observer will create the end painting
Please enjoy.
click on picture to enlarge
