Getting ahead.

I get ahead of myself sometimes. In the studio I get excited by an idea or concept and that leads to another thought and another and before I know it I’ve passed by some great ideas and lost momentum on current projects in favor or newer ones. I’m trying to be conscientious of this tendency – I’m trying to stop and smell the roses… or, more realistically, the mothballs.

I’m about half of the way through the bird portrait series and I’m already thinking about another painting… I’ve been thinking about the “other painting” for over a month now. (I think my resolve is pretty damn good.)

I’m waiting to begin the new painting because of several reasons: it’s going to be huge, it’s going to be complicated, my model keeps falling apart, and if I had started it during the semester I would have had to put it aside for several days at a time and that would held up my momentum.

The painting will be a direct reference to mid-century wall hangings, involving a grouping of frost-killed calla lilies that are devouring little birds. The plants and birds will transition from realism to motif as the painting moves upward. I think I’ve about tackled the falling apart issue (thank goodness for hot glue) and after Wednesday, this semester is officially over for me.

I’m giddy with anticipation.

But again… I’m getting ahead of myself…

The bird portraits are going well, the more that I do the more I like the work. The graphite and lack of patterning have turned out to be good choices. I sort of overestimated my ability to crank them out though. I began with a bird I’ve drawn multiple times before – it took me half an hour and I thought “wow – I’m going to crank these puppies out” – sadly this is not at all how it’s done. Never-the-less, it’s still going well.

I received Archetypes: A Natural History of the Self by Anthony Stevens from Amazon today – SO EXCITED!!! I’ve checked this out at the library a couple of times but realized it’s the sort of book you need to own – libraries frown on highlighting and notes in the margins. I’ve also ordered several other books to assist me with my thesis and eagerly await their arrival as well.

I guess this is sort of getting ahead of myself again though because I’m still reading The World We Have by Thich Nhat Hanh – it’s the second time I’ve read it but I haven’t read it with my “thesis” mentality before so it’s different this time…

Maybe I’m not so much getting ahead of myself since I am exercising self-control and diligent stick-to-itiveness – maybe I’m just really excited about the three week holiday break and how much time this provides.