Deep Experimentation

More experiments with the Zorn palette.  I wanted to explore the range of colors and moods I could get with those same 4 colors--black, white, Cadmium Red med. and Yellow Ochre.  I'm also trying to be even more raw in painting, not polishing them up so much.  Nancy Hillis has a phrase--deep experimentation--that is always in my mind.  I think that will be my word(s) for the year.  To me it's about showing up, listening deeply to intuition, trying the uncomfortable, and hardest of all, doing a lot of paintings that I end up not even liking.  There's a lot of letting go to work on this year, but I think that's where the more exciting work is.

I love this time of year, reviewing what worked and didn't work last year and planning for the new one.   To set a direction for painting, I've been using these questions from Donna Zagotta's blog a few years ago.  I've probably paraphrased them, but they are basically what she asks.

1.  In the next 12 months, I want to accomplish--

2.  To achieve my goals, I will have to--

3.  My current interests are--

4.  Some things I would like to explore in my work--

5.  Words I want to have describe my work--

6.  3 artists I want to have as mentors--

7.  One specific thing I like about each of these artist's work--

8.  I can incorporate some of these ideas into my own by--

9.   If I could paint only one subject--

10.  I love painting this subject because--

11.  I can create a series on this subject by--

12.  I will love my paintings when--

I've answered them for painting, but I think I'll now go back and see how they apply to my stitching.