Thoughts in the USA

Ah, I am such a procrastinating chicken!

Big busy times are over for now. I can paint for real, and stop escaping to these little sketches in front of the TV. no more excuses. On Friday, stretched 8 half-sheets of watercolor paper, all ready to go - - - and there I am, yet again, sketching from a photo I found in a magazine.

"It's only an exercise", I tell myself.

"Just for practicing", I assure me.

"It's not gonna come out good anyway", I plead to the little voice in me that keeps saying 'Stop it!'.

And it's not like I do not have enough photos of my own. Noooooooooooooo... I have plenty of those, taken with LumiB and her predecessors, and I keep taking more and more. And some of them are good! REALLY good!

So, why do I keep reverting to TV and magazines? I will never be able to show them at an exhibit or sell them, as they are actually someone else's art that I based mine on. So, does that fact make me feel less committed, thus more free, when I sketch or paint? Two of my favorite - and most successful - paintings were done from a photo I found online, or in a magazine. They both turned out incredible! Those who see them gasp "Ah, you just HAVE to enter these in a show!!!". And yet, alas, both can only be hung on our own walls.

With that in mind, why do I keep doing the same mistake over and over again? Am I just a repetitive idiot? (that is a rhetorical questiion. No need to answer it, thankyouverymuch).

OK then. I hereby decide, pledge and make a pact: from now on, I shall paint from my own photos only. No more wading in the shallow water comprising the comfort zone of uncommitment.

Labels: Art, ArtPact, Damn Technology, Stating The Obvious

# posted by Nava @ 3:39 PM