I had the pleasure of welcoming fellow painter Cree Scudder to the studio on Thursday. We’re both in the midst of painting for upcoming shows. She’s painting for a show in Florida and mentioned that the host for the show asked her for a body of work that she feels doesn’t represent where she is right now in her creative growth. So the question came up: Do you paint for where you were when you got the show or do you paint where you are right now?
It’s a bit of a quandry in my mind as it was in Cree’s. How do you go back and trace through creative questions that in essence were already solved? Is it possible to do it up fresh, staying true to where you were and where you are going at the same time? Or does that just come off stilted?
I’m not sure. I told Cree to paint where she is now and let the chips fall where they may. That was my gut response and I suppose I stick with it. I feel like if you are true to what you want to say, many of those that supported your visions and ideas a year ago will support them now. There’s always going to be a thread running through the work if you create from you own perspective and let go of what the expectations of others will be.
Now I am going to print this out and put it up in the studio to remind me.
AMBER GEORGE 
April 3, 2010 at 10:49 am
Great words. Quite tricky indeed. At the end we must paint for ourselves, explore our voice and our process, but we do want to sell too, and that’s where the pleasing others comes to play. I remind myself constantly of that. “Paint for yourself, plaint for yourself, plaint for yourself”..ok maybe not AS constantly, but I do.
April 3, 2010 at 12:11 pm
Yes, it is tricky. I find that the voice of “is this what they are expecting?” creeps in when I am making certain decisions. It’s hard not to know that the work does have a life once it leaves the studio. But, I find that the more I work and the more I experiment and grow, my confidence grows and the work naturally gets better.
April 3, 2010 at 12:25 pm
I find when we paint other than where we truly are, it shows. I’ve tried it and the misalignment inevitably shows in the work. Maybe not everyone can see it, but I can. As I look back in art history, I see that this theme goes back to the masters as well. Many of them painted a line for the market, and a line true to their heart. The difference it, the masters were good at both. Guess that means I’m not a master. 😉
April 3, 2010 at 2:04 pm
We are all masters at being our authentic selves! You do a better job at that than many my dear Audrey, I always look to you for inspiration! And you are right though, whenever I listened to someone tell me what they thought I should paint it doesn’t work. I have a whole drawer full of monotypes that I made after feedback from a particular dealer – turns out this dealer didn’t sell them after all. What did sell was the work that was genuine that I made without feedback and prior to meeting this dealer. And of course the sold monotypes are the works that attracted her to my work in the first place. I keep some of those less than authentic prints around to remind me to filter the feedback I get. Sometimes it’s good feedback, other times not so much. Luckily I am getting better at telling the difference!
April 3, 2010 at 10:16 pm
Thank goodness we discussed painting for shows on Friday. I’ve been working madly since I left our house, and I am painting for the show, but mostly for myself. I can’t take something that doesn’t rest well inside with me. If it means a fewer number of pieces, so be it this go around. But, thanks for listening and helping me to put my head on straight as I tackle this show.