How I Finish A Painting and Some Thoughts on 'Perfection.'

'B Went Missing in the Land,' acrylic and ink on canvas, 70 x 50 cm (2018)

The posted painting is one that caused me so many problems! Some of my recent paintings have focused on creating a lot more open and 'quiet' areas but this one evolved quite intensely. In the end I decided to let it have its own direction and to consider it carefully for some weeks before making changes. Then a few days later a curator came to my flat to select work for a London exhibition and this painting was one of the works she liked! It just shows that artists are not always the best judges of their works. (She also chose another painting which I had been unsure whether to include in the selection! See below.)

'Landscape Poem,' acrylic and oil on canvas, 100 x 100 cm (2016)

The paintings were exhibited in the offices and foyer of Gordon Dadds solicitors in Covent Garden, London, and the Private View was very well attended on Thursday evening with wine and canapes. The whole of the fifth floor was set out like a gallery and looked fabulous! (I will be posting photos of this event soon.) There was also a very beautiful catalogue.

Seeing your artwork on show always gives a new perspective on the work. It rarely looks the same as it does in a cluttered studio and I was pleased that it actually looked better. My paintings were set out in a white office with plenty of space between each one and the curator told me there had been very good feedback. I always find that a London audience has a wider knowledge of art styles and can appreciate the more abstract kind of artwork. I spent some 3 hours speaking about my paintings and my inspiration to people who really connected with my descriptions. I also took inspiration from a view of windows seen out of the large office window; different shapes and colours seen within each window.

On the way home on the train I was thinking a lot about my next body of work and about the idea of perfection. I used to strive for perfection but rarely does any painting ever meet my idea of this, or perhaps we fix our ideas too much on one specific route or how something 'should' look. Some paintings can seem 'complete' in their own terms; perhaps this is a kind of perfection. Most times there is a niggling part of the painting which causes endless re-consideration! As I often tend to get too obsessive about 'wrong' areas, it helps to start something new because this releases my fears and I feel unblocked. There is nothing worse creatively than feeling blocked.

'China Poem,' acrylic and ink on canvas, 70 x 50 cm (2016)

'Finish' is another concept which can block you. How do we know when a painting is finished? I can know with some certainty when the painting is figurative because inadequate areas will scream out for attention. But with abstract, which for me means expanding and exploring the language of paint, it is not always so certain or signposted clearly. Perhaps the best thing is not to think of these things, just to paint and let time be the judge. My husband has stopped me ruining many paintings by telling me to lay it aside for a while.