Friday, May 1, 2009

Mary Whyte speaks at Cecilia Beaux Forum

I had the pleasure of hearing Mary Whyte speak at the Cecilia Beaux Forum last week. Since then, I have been in such a quandry over one point she made. Ms Whyte directed us to sit down and decide what it is we most love to paint. She said that if you paint what you truly love, it will show in your work and your progression as an artist. Your growth towards the goal of being a master artist will be impeded if you paint what is fashionable or uninteresting to you.

Now I must decide what it is I truly love to paint. That one thing I must paint to be happy with my work as an artist. I can honestly say, I don't know what it is. It may be easier for me to figure out what it is I don't like to paint or have no interest in.

I don't care to paint en plein air.....I hate bugs and am very sun sensitive to the point I get very ill with too much exposure to the sun. But, I do love landscape painting. I often paint vineyard scenes based on field notes and numerous trips to vineyards to do tastings. Such a hard job, taking all those field notes with wineglass in hand! I don't like to paint old cars or machinery and rusting metals. I do enjoy painting shiny objects such as glass, silver, gold and raw dripping slippery eggs. I am currently working on an egg painting and hope to have photos for you soon.

I will think more on this subject and let you know where this train of thought leads me.

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