Painting?

For the most part, I’ve really enjoyed the class exercises so far, especially the alterations of postcards and photocopied images. It was exciting and liberating to be taking action on an image however I felt compelled to at a particular moment, just creating. I found the process somewhat mindless—in the sense that my actions were automatic and instinctive— but also exhilarating and completely absorbing. I am excited to continue exploring, but am a little concerned that what I’m doing is somehow too easy. Don’t I need to be thinking a little more? And didn’t the Abstract Expressionists already fully investigate this sort of markmaking? What could I possibly have to offer? I came to Florence expecting to really leave my comfort zone and be forced to experiment with new media, since I’ve been told that much of the work that comes out of the program is “non-traditional,” whatever that means. I love to paint, but was basically prepared to not pick up my brushes this semester. The exact opposite has turned out to be true. I’ve painted in all the exercises, and this week I’ll be making a few of these abstract paintings from scratch, something I’ve never done before. I’m excited to give it a try, and it’ll be interesting to see if I can transfer what I’ve done with found images to an image I have to create in its entirety.

Here are some close-ups of my wall...