Thinking outside the box

One of the challenges artists face is moving out of safe
ground. It’s heartbreaking to me to see people
with talent who won’t take the smallest
risk. They won’t use a different colour, or size
of canvas or paper, they “can’t” paint big, or small.
They feel stuck, but can’t see that the answer is
right in front of them. Choose blue instead of grey,
or red instead of green – do something you’ve thought
about doing. No matter how skilled we are, we need to
change some element each time we paint, to look for the new
idea in every work. We can't always succeed, I know I don’t,
but it helps if it's a conscious goal.

These two paintings are called Gill Left, and
Gill Right. They are portraits of my friend and
fellow artist, Gill, from her left side, and her
right. Gill didn't have time to pose because we
were preparing for a show, but I took a raft of
photos of her one day as she sat in one of her
favorite chairs, wearing a black velvet dress.

When I got the photos home I realized that
her entire look changed depending on the
camera's viewpoint. The difference was so
dramatic that I decided to do two paintings
capturing both looks and then hang them
facing each other. Once again they look
more yellow here than they are. I haven't
yet been commissioned to paint someone
from more than one angle, but it would
be fun.

Sorry I realize that these pictures are
both yellow, and grainy. Enjoy
anyway.

Have a radical evening