16″ x 16″ Mandala
Beginning an 8 hour session on this piece. I already know which direction and colors I will be going within this piece and what my intentions wish to manifest through the paint. It will be a good exercise to see if I can match what I am seeing in my mind and whether or not my hand can mimic it. It’s a simple geometry, one I’ve been playing with in my work for years, and today, I plan on using this exercise to gauge at what level of production I am running. It’s a reassessment as I begin a new session within my practice. Over the next few months I plan on evolving my work in multiple dimensions, and truly enter a stage of refinement and finality with many of my pieces.
This piece is a part of Series 16, or the cluster of works I do as studies all within the framework of a 16″ x 16″ mandala. The will all follow the same super structure and process and it will be an open ended series of paintings.
As an artist, when you have to step out of Artist mode and enter Admin or Business mode, it can sometimes be weeks before you return to the canvas. Anything longer than a week, for me, puts me in a place where my engine is very cold, and takes about a week of painting exercises to get back up to speed. When you are painting at full capacity of 40-50 hours per week, you really have to monitor and reassess your energy levels constantly. If not, you will quickly burn out, of which I have experienced many times. When that happens, it can take longer to get back on the canvas. Being a full time painter is not easy, it is down right exhausting sometimes, and you can never stop, like driving up a snowy road. You lose momentum, and you begin to slip and then gravity captures you pull you down. The thing about being an artist is that it puts you face to face with your real self.