Painting with Intention
Painting with Intention
This weeks' thoughts in the studio
Think about the simple act of creating a line within a painting. Consider different ways in which a line can be created - a brushed stroke of paint (thick, thin, multi-color, dotted, angled, etc.); with the meeting of different colors, textures, or paint applications; via sgraffito (i.e. in this instance, the scratching away of a layer of paint). It can be subtle or bold or unexpected. But was it considered? Was it necessary?
Now think about a color. Mixing the color on a palette. Choosing a brush, picking up the paint, and applying to a canvas. A mark is made with the stroke of the brush. Then another, and another. Is each stroke the same color, same shade, same hue? Was it created out of necessity or convenience? Did it serve the idea, the concept, the story, the art? Did it have purpose?
Was it intentional?
These were questions consistently asked throughout art school, in one form or another. And what each question led to was - Are you painting with intention?
Admittedly, as I pursued a career in art making, I painted what was easy for me. My paintings were impressions of the world around me, painted intuitively and quickly. Which isn’t to say they weren’t done well (my training in color, composition, and technique gave me a mostly successful intuition), or without purpose (bringing a bit of joy and sunshine while exploring and deepening a relationship with nature). But was it intentional?
Admittedly, I was fortunate that this joyful style resonated with many people and helped me to build an art career. I assume many of you found and followed me as a result of this style, and I sincerely appreciate the warmth and support I’ve received during this part of my artistic journey. I do not mean to diminish previous work in my artistic journey, for it certainly had purpose if not intention.
Now however, as my paintings mature and as I get older, I find myself coming back to my early art school days thinking of the professors who guided me, and the question of intention deepens more and more - be it in technique, color, style, materials, subject, or permanence. Am I making choices that fully reflect the concepts and complexity of emotions and thoughts I wish to express?
As a result, as you probably noticed, my process and style has been shifting over the last couple of years, and especially in these last several months. It’s also one of the reasons I’ve been exploring and including more materials and writing as a means to process feelings, ideas and thoughts - from journal entries and poems to scribbled notes and lists. I’m reserving judgement and letting the words form and develop naturally while also sharing what I’m comfortable sharing - working up to sharing what’s less comfortable. The same is true with my art.
Change is necessary to grow as an artist.
I hope my art will continue to grow and change and mature as I contemplate my intentions with each piece as it slowly moves back and forth between concept and completion. It must. Repeatedly creating within the status quo does not allow an artist to create honestly or grow artistically. As I work to create in a more deliberate way - less worried about the “success” of a painting and more focused on honest expressions of my intention, I reach out to new paths of creating. I still plan on keeping my current skills fresh with a more traditional “Jennifer style” painting here and there (and with another summer of plein air painting), but more often than not, a painting may suddenly take a different turn. It may fail completely. It may be destroyed. It may find a new life. It may be sewn into the fabric of something new.
Thus far in my art career I have repeatedly chosen painting in my whimsical and joyful style - honestly more for selfish reasons than the ideals expressed in school. I enjoy it. I wasn’t concerned with the intention. I absolutely loved (and still love) the feel of buttery layers of paint being moved around a canvas, the play of colors as they interact, the immediacy and unexpected whimsy of intuitively and quickly adding shapes, lines and patterns. It brings me joy to paint with such expressive strokes, and fortunately, the joy I felt in the process of painting came through in my final pieces, bringing a bit of joy to my viewers as well.
Now, as I continue to travel down this new artistic path with a process which is becoming more deliberate and intentional, I hope my art can still offer something of value to my viewers and to you. While it’s a path surely filled with obstacles and failures, it is also filled with determination and a hope to create art filled with purpose and substance. Art that urges thought, discussion, and introspection. Art I find meaningful and fulfilling to make and to share. And maybe even at times, art that is overflowing with a wonderful, joyful intention for all of us too.
~ Jennifer