Author: Beki Borman

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Mini Paintings

These are a few of the many mini paintings I have been working on over the past few months.  I love the quick changes of color I can make on a smallscale.  Usually I keep a stack of small panels next to my easel.  When I have leftover paint on my palette from another painting I am working on, I apply some of it to one of my small panels.  As these colors build up I start making more thoughtful decisions about which panels need which colors.  It is not long before an idea of final touches emerges.  Many of the mini paintings become color models for larger works.  However I do not think of them as merely studies.  I enjoy them as small works for themselves.

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Drawing

I am going to admit, recently I do not draw as much as I should.  My paintings focus on color and texture, something that drawing doesn’t give me much room to explore.  Yet the value in changing media occasionally is priceless.  I teach drawing regularly and teaching gives me an opportunity to revisit drawing.  Drawing often focuses on value, line, or mark.  This is a charcoal drawing I did as a demo for a recent class.  I had fun using the weight and direction of the mark to describe different materials and depths.  It is important to remember that art making is about the journey, not the destination.  The lessons learned from any and every drawing will ultimately effect the next artwork.

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When it is Hard to Paint

There are days- many days- when it is hard to paint.  I am very fortunate to have the time to paint, but just because I have the time does not mean I have the focus.  In fact, inspiration is rarely convenient.  I want to paint when I cannot and when I can paint I don’t want to.  (That is probably in part why I am writing this blog right now.)  In any case, it is important to try.  On the days that I just don’t feel like painting- I force myself.  Even if I have to sit in that studio for 4 hours and make absolute garbage, I force myself.  You often hear writer’s say, “just start writing”.  Well it is true for painting as well.  Just start, and eventually your mind will click and the intentions will flow.  I find even just sitting and staring at an unfinished painting long enough will compel me to jump in.  Or, looking at books and browsing the web for some of my favorite artists usually gets the juices flowing.  If you know yourself, you will know what it takes to get going.  So I guess it is time for me to go paint now…

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When to Give up on a Painting

This is a painting in flux.

I often tell my students that acrylics are wonderful because they are so easy to paint over.  This is true, but eventually texture build up can become the enemy.  When this happens it can become more and more frustrating to apply paint because the attempt to conceal a previous layer’s texture interferes with the intentions for the painting.  So after layers and layers of paint and hours lost, when do you throw in the towel?  At some point all you can do is ask yourself, “am I really accomplishing anything?”  A few days ago I was in a similar predicament with another painting (it has just been one of those weeks).  I plowed ahead and I am now really happy with the outcome.  After hours of frustrations something clicked and a successful painting emerged.  Today, however, feels different.  I think I am much further away from where I want to be.  So, I have a decision to make.  To throw way or to keep at it?

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Receiving Criticism

It has been a great week for feedback!  Last Saturday I participated in a critique session at the Frank Juarez Gallery with artist and instructor Michael Davidson.  Then, just this past Tuesday I had an opportunity through MARN to have my work reviewed by Milwaukee Art Museum Director, Dan Keegan.  At both of these critiques I also received feedback from fellow artists.  My brain is now brimming and bubbling with thoughts about my work!  I have jumped in quickly and am currently making work that in a sense responds to the feedback, criticism, ideas I received.

I am reminded of how hard it can often be for an artist to hear criticism. There were times during my college experience that I was brought to tears because others criticized my work.  Now in the professional world I find that I am less emotionally effected by criticism.  Don’t get me wrong, it effects me deeply intellectually.  Yet I am not crushed by the success or failure of a single painting or even a body of work.  Embracing the process and realizing that we are all in the same boat softens the blows when they come and makes me more receptive to the ideas they generate.  Receiving feedback and criticism happens so seldom after college.  An artist must seek out these experiences and soak them up.  It is an invaluable tool to making better art and growing as an artist.  I am grateful to live in a place where I have access to these opportunities!

Photo courtesy of Frank Juarez, Frank Juarez Gallery

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Mixed Media

I have been working in acrylics this past year and one of my favorite things about acrylic paint is how well it works in mixed media.  This image is a detail of a piece is on my easel right now.  It is acrylic on paper.  I have carved into the wet acrylics with soft pastel and pastel pencil.  I love the incorporation of line in painting, and the layering of media creates diverse textures.  Because acrylic dries much quicker and more stable than oil, it bonds well to other dry media.  I had forgotten how much fun this was- and how much I like the results.  I think there will be more of this in my upcoming work!