This constraint inspired me
Have you faced any constraints recently? How do you think you responded?
Sometimes, when an obstacle presents, I can focus on it until I break it or remove it. This approach can often ‘work’ and is celebrated in Western, individualistic cultures.
But as I age¹, I’m realizing that obstacles are often invitations to something bigger or new. Below, I share how one obstacle - not having the space required to paint big - became an invitation to create a new artwork, differently. I am in love with this painting and despite my space constraints, it is the largest I’ve made.
I’d love to hear what you think. Please read below and let me know! And I’d love to learn from you: how do you respond to obstacles?
I’ve wanted to paint bigger for a while. My body wanted to make bigger, sweeping marks on the substrate. My soul wanted to spread the paint further, watch the color go wider.
To paint big requires space. Space to step back and view the painting as a whole while creating it. Space to store the work, once created.
Space is not abundant in our rental home though. I love the little studio space I’ve set up but it is small and dark. While 4 different kinds of lamps (kinda) help with lighting, the space is what it is. And believe me, I’ve tried all the IKEA-inspired tricks.
To be clear, I enjoy creating smaller works and the smaller substrates tend to be more accessible for people to bring into their homes. (I am quite driven by a belief in accessible art and art processes).
But I wanted to paint big. And I wanted my large piece to be part of my show, which opened 3 March.
While preparing for my show, the only place to store finished art was in our stairwell, bedroom and this corridor! My dream studio def includes storage…
#workinprogress. It was during a call with my mum back in Australia when the idea was birthed: paint the view from my gridded window. Daily, the cats and I soak up the joy and nourishment this tree offers.
The view-from-my-window concept lent itself perfectly to a polyptych (multi-panel painting). In this case, I went for a hexaptych (a 6-piece painting), each panel coming together to suggest the portal that is my window’s view.
A multi-panel painting meant I could ‘zoom in’ to paint when needed, by working on an individual panel. To ‘zoom out’ when reviewing progress, my workaround was to photograph the painting and upload to my iPad.
A few people have asked me to video my painting process, so I made a 4-part time lapse of the creation of "Bird's Eye View" from start to finish. Each video is about 2-3mins.
You can view these on my new YouTube channel, where you’ll see that I’m learning YouTube as I go (as per the quality for the middle two videos!). My favs videos are the first and last.
Check out Part 1 where I create the first layer - including with poetry
Watch me create the next intuitive layers in Part 2
Watch Part 3 to see finger painting as a major part of creating this painting
See the adventure of this painting’s final layers in Part 4
What do you think? Do you have any questions about my process? Any requests for future videos or blog posts? BTW If you’re a YouTube user, I’d love you to subscribe to my channel.
¹ For me, aging is a gift and a privilege. I’m grateful to age and push back on the shame our culture associates with it, particularly for women.
Bird’s-Eye View. 36x24 inch hexaptych (6 panel painting). Framed dimensions 39x26x1.5 inches. Acrylic and collage on wood panel. See details and close-ups here.