The Challenge

The Challenge oil on panel, 8 x 10

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Sometimes when I am working in my studio I have odd thoughts. Now that may not seem strange to many of you because well, I am an artist... and people's perspectives of artists tend to be that we are just a little bit different than other people, and maybe we are. But usually my days in my studio are just like anyone else who goes to work on a daily basis. I go to work, and I get work done. Some days I feel more productive, and others days feel like I can only mange to get the busy work done around the studio. It has nothing to do with inspiration; it's just that sometimes the studio needs to be cleaned or panels and canvases need to be prepped, all the things they don't tell you about in art school.

What do you mean!? I don't get to just paint all time?

When I am painting or drawing, I'm thinking mostly about...art, surprising I know. I think about the piece I am working on, the drawing I did last week, or sometimes a new idea will pop into my head, while working on the painting on the easel. These ideas are sometimes unexpected and unpredictable, and I try not to put my mind on automatic edit. All my ideas need to be at least tried out to see if there are any possibility to the idea.

That's how The Challenge was made...I was working on another piece and I was thinking about landscape painting in general. If you simplify the basics of landscape painting down to it's core you will have a horizon line with a blue sky and green land. Most people think that's what makes a landscape, right? Well, I must have been working on blue sky-green land painting and getting quite bored because I thought to myself, what happens if I don't use any blue in the sky or green in the land? How would that change the dynamics of the painting? I didn't know the answer to the question...and that was exciting to me. I didn't know if it would even work, but it was something that was well worth trying. I had seen other artists do this sort of thing, but I had never tried it myself. The key was I had to try it to see if I could make it work for myself. It's when I ask myself what seems to me the obvious question that I get the most surprising answer. When I know how things are going to turn out that I think paintings is at its most boring. I like to try and mix things up, and it keeps everything fresh because I never know what I will think of and try next.

Is The Challenge a great masterpiece? Well, no probably not...but it is an effective painting that opened a lot of new doors for me and my painting. There are times when an artist just has to throw caution to the wind and see what will happen.