Monday, March 8, 2010

Monday at the studio

Some are 'finished' and patiently waiting in their quiet, 'other' room-


Some have just started- actually not just. This started as a drawing in my 'accountant's sketchbook' a few weeks ago. I had taken Lucy and a friend to a school park and drew while they played. I loved what was happening on the page but I wanted to take it further ,so I cut and pasted some of the shapes on a wooden board. I drew some more. I really adore the figure of the child on the swing. I feel it works eactly as I would like it to. Which is rather rare, so I don't want to mess it up...

Saying that, I know that the first layers of colour are going to take me a few steps back because I will definitely mess it up and it will be horrible but there the challenge lies. How to keep that original freshness? how to keep the original story- lets face it -there was a story- but how can I take it beyond that story too?



That's when I have to 'stretch'- push myself to go beyond what feels safe-Whipe out a whole series of shapes because they are just that, isolated shapes and offer nothing to the whole-And then ask myself all sorts of questions about how do go further, and further yet?
So there goes a whole day of work and everything looks much worse than when I started off- which obviously is a good thing!(because I did take the risks and eventually it will come around and behave itself-somewhat...)




I also really want to say that I have been reading Alexandra's blog and I have come to really respect her fearless attitude, her clarity of thought and her passion about her art-


And one more lovely and newly discovered (by me) artist: helen carnac. She has a blog too but I haven't really seen that yet.


Hugs-



13 comments:

kirsty said...

I love it... intriguing insight too. Mmmm, at what point do you stop and decide it's finished... I don't paint v often anymore, but always had a tendency to overwork things. x

Jane O Sullivan said...

wow anna maria
go girl go !!
you are really getting it all together ,in a super way
I love to think of the finished ones in a quite room :) ....beautiful beautiful
The super best of luck with the rest of it and continued courage with the risks ...I so agree with you , we have to take things further ...risk all
whatever you end up with wil be YOUR SHOW x

Kylie said...

What a wonderful process to witness in words and images :) I love the 'collage' process. I think it looks fabulous Annamaria :) K

red or gray black and white said...

oh that first image with the sunshine and waiting ..exquisite! your process in so encouraging to me!

our little love nest said...

Your work is so so inspiring to me and the way you talk about it draws me in. I wish I could sit and watch you paint.
The shadows and light in your photos are wonderful! xoxo

annamaria potamiti said...

thank you all- I am so happy to see your comments-
Annamaria xx

Shayna said...

Your new work is beautiful - your show is going to be just AMAZING!!! Thank you for all of your inspiring posts~

Francesca said...

it looks beautiful. i love all those greens and i love the trees/bushes in the background.

june at noon said...

It's lovely, and you're right--the swing is just perfect. I love the look of all the paintings waiting in the quiet.

Anonymous said...

Keep wrangling that painting - it's looking good! Claire x

annamaria potamiti said...

Thank you all!- I was feeling despirited and overwhelmed, came here and saw your comments and its like recharging all the batteries-
Annamaria xx

belinda marshall said...

thanks for sharing all your thoughts and processes with us. i really like how you stuck the original drawing on the board to keep it the way is was in your mind. it is overwhelming when you know that too much can spoil the piece + with every step the whole thing transforms! you can't really control it or the way you feel until however long after it's 'finished' don't you think?
i really like in each of the stages :)

sometimes i think of scanning a piece in the early stages {if i like it} and then somehow keeping track!
will stop now!

Alexandra Hedberg said...

thank you for the mentioning!

I love that painting with the backpack that I saw in the first photo. I saw that one in the interview with you too - and it made such an impression!