It's been months since my last blog post and you may have wondered whether I hung up my paintbrush after the exhibition in spring.
The exhibition was a good moment for me to pause for a moment, to process all the feedback I had received in personal conversations and to critically assess my work over the last few years with a little distance. My conclusion was briefly summarised: I am not (yet) as good an artist as I would like to be.
For me, there is no question of stopping painting. I have been systematically organising my life for years so that I can paint in my third phase of life. My passion for painting and drawing is still burning, even if it has now been dampened a little. However, continuing as before is not an option for me. And so I took a few weeks off, enjoyed the summer and thought about how my creative journey should continue.
During the summer months, I tried out a lot of new things, temporarily abandoning the subject of portraits altogether and focussing exclusively on abstract painting. Using documentaries and videos, I studied the painting techniques and forms of expression of some of the artists whose work I admire in detail and tried them out myself. I wanted to find out whether I could adopt some of these techniques and use them in my future work. I succeeded with some, but I had to capitulate to others because I realised that (at the moment) I lacked either the necessary painting skills or the artistic and creative abilities. Creative expression is also something very personal, which is based on a person's innermost being and builds on their unique life experiences and the environment in which this person lives. In this respect, I also realise that I can only learn the creative expression of another artist to a limited extent.
Of course, I have also continued to experiment with oil paint, having only started painting with it again in the spring after more than 40 years. In the meantime, I have become quite familiar with the possible uses and limits of my various painting media (acrylic (paint and spray), oil, colour pigments with various binders). I think that my future works will probably often be mixed media works.
So I have set off again on my creative journey. But I'm still taking time for further studies and experiments. At the moment, I don't know where my journey will take me next.
But I will certainly get back to you from time to time...
Greetings from the road with a painting made sometime this summer
Format: 80/80 cm, Mixed Media on Canvas
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