Since cameras and electronic devices can now record the look of things in the minutest detail, the work of visual artists is completely liberated from that task. We are free to explore other – invisible – things, such as mood, emotion, happenstance, coincidence….
The transition for the viewer and the artist is the same, the willingness to make the leap from realism to something more undefined. It is not always easy. There is an inner voice saying ‘Ah! but can you draw? Could you do it the old way, as well as making these random marks? After all, anyone could make a mess, and call it art….!’
And who is the artist trying to please? The market? The critics? The family? Herself?
I find, when I am in ebullient mood, painting in an undefined and undetermined way is much easier, but during these months of lockdown, pandemic, political uncertainty and loss of contact with beloved family members it’s harder. I need to practice more. But in the meanwhile, I found that zooming in to small areas of these paintings done in the boatyard reveals wonderful and energetic details which are purely abstract and which I can use as inspiration for bigger abstract works.
