Thursday, June 9, 2011

up against the wall, emeffer!


I have hit the wall.

Against my better(?) judgement, I'll show you what
I just emailed to Jala across the street:

"I just got so pissed at my paints (it happens), I put them all away. I mean, packed all the tubes in boxes, stashed the brushes, stacked the canvases, washed the jars and pails and scrubbed the table. Sick to death of, okay, frustrated by mixing colors. While I was doing all of that, it occurred to me that I could maybe NOT mix colors and use em straight out of the tube. Even bag the brushes and squirt the shit straight onto the canvas.
Or I could, OMG, use pastels. I can make the same friggin' mud outta them.
Or I could embrace making a mess and go multi-media.
At any rate, something's gotta change."

Then I said something about spending time working in the garden.
Thrashing the dirt always helps.
Then I said something about having me a couple of glasses of whine.
I don't drink, so this is a questionable strategy.

In the meantime, here's a medium I can handle...



Ever had a day like this?

13 comments:

Stinson Fine Art / John W. Stinson said...

Every other day sometimes.

Double "D" said...

Sam, I feel your pain and or frustration.
I've decided to build a brick wall with all of the
mud I've made in the last month. Hang in there,
thrash the dirt, smash some weeds ... definitely drink
the wine and let your thoughts ferment.

fubar.

Casey Klahn said...

Yes.

William Cook said...

Ah yes, the old elephant in the room. Mudpies make the masterpieces feel that much sweeter.

Some days you're the big dog--
Some days you're the fire plug. Yeah yeah yeah.

Time to make more 'Upslopes'--a brilliant piece.

I think that's the Pennsylvania Escarpment. They used to make Tarzan movies there--and raise turkeys--way north of Maryland.

Here in Baltimore we shove our faces down into our dough and make gorilla cookies. Brian lives in heaven over there on the shore.

Yes we've had days like this.

Katherine van Schoonhoven said...

Oh, yeah. Plenty of them. Monthly. Weekly, sometimes. I call them "I'm selling all of my art supplies on Craigslist" days.

Yeah, maybe gardening will help. Exercise. Reading a good art biography (let's you realize that all of the greats suffer times like this). Or go to figure drawing. Sketching.

Mama said there'd be days like this, there'd be days like this, my Mama said.

Shelley Smart said...

Well, yeah, I quit painting twice this winter alone.

But I think your work is great. All that I've seen anyway... :-)

Debora L Stewart said...

That frustration and feeling "stuck" is very familiar. Sometimes out of that springs something new. I hope that happens for you. Unfortunately, it seems to be part of the "artistic process". Drinking always made things worse for me so I would not recommend that.

SamArtDog said...

This is exactly why blogging is so terrific; it's the best place I know of to pitch a fit. Hard to take myself too seriously while laughing at your comments.

For some reason, we artistes tend to suffer in silence. But why bother when there's a whole community of like-mindeds out there who not only understand creative angst but who are also so generous and supportive? I hope each and every one of you knows you can rely on the rest of us to hold you up when you slump. Our humor will save our souls.

Being who I am, I took some of your good advice. After my studio cleaning frenzy, I took my husband out for dinner. Well, something like that. A good paella, some pinot and lots of laughs fixed me right up.

Today I finished (is there such a thing?) the garden chores while watching goofy fledgling finches, doves, starlings, and yes, robins try to get the hang of it in the yard. Their parents are as patient as all of you are. A big jelly donut for all of your forbearance.

hw (hallie) farber said...

You're being too neat--I cuss a lot and throw stuff at the wall. I've also considered drinking but I don't like the taste--not even of wine. (Eating grapes just doesn't cut it.)

Katherine van Schoonhoven said...

Good on you!

Our good advice and humorous comments will go up in relation to the number of jelly donuts consumed!

You're the best. Kvan

Celeste Bergin said...

is the painting in the post from your iphone or from the jackson pollock website? I can't think of anyone with a better sense for color and composition than you. To me work like you've posted is as legitimate as "traditional" arts. I think you should embrace the idea that you are you are interested in both electronic/digital and traditonal and keep cranking out the work! EVERYTHING you've posted has been beautiful. IMO!

SamArtDog said...

Nice comment, Celeste. Thanks!

I think it was Kvan who suggested I should print them. I've collected them together on iPhoto (I should make a disc). I've also printed a few. They look pretty good as refrigerator art. Maybe I'll indulge, print them all and put them in a book. Having that in hand would feel good.

Mary Sheehan Winn said...

Aha. Been there!
I like these wildly colored abstracts you do.
Keep on keepin' on. Sometimes you're the windshield sometimes you're the bug ;)
Couldn't resist.