Creative Drought

You know the feeling, right?  You’re compelled to paint, but the ideas just aren’t there.  To make matters worse, my style has been in flux lately, with no definitive direction.  In the past I’ve been caught up in the play of light and shadow against shape…a throwback to my sculpting days.  Now, I see it as all too fiddly. I seem to be enthralled with flat surfaces instead, as evidenced by some of my Judaica and my piece, Numb.

Speaking of Numb, that’s reflective of my emotions of late.  So…toss that into the mix and, well, it’s a conundrum. Maybe abstract?  I’ve been drawing a piece that reflects my current view of life.  Don’t know if it will make it to canvas.  We’ll see.  I’ll have to improve my gesso techniques, since there are tons of straight lines.  Lately, my canvases look like they were gessoed with an old straw broom.  I’m spending an inordinate amount of time sanding.  Basically, I’m just making work for myself.  If you have any gesso hints, I’m all ears.

My neighbors eleven-year-old daughter is coming over to paint with me today.  I know this sounds awful but, I generally don’t like other people's kids.  I only like my own, one of ‘em anyway, and they’re grown. This little girl has such an endearing personality.  She’s polite, loves to learn and is funny as hell.  Maybe some of her enthusiasm will rub off.  Fingers crossed.