I've been busy! Really busy! Since my last exhibition at Denbies I've been immersed in a wonderful, challenging and transformative artist's mentoring programme called Creative Visionary Path. After nearly three months, I am finally nearing the end (which is actually really only the beginning!) and it's thrown me on a creative trajectory I wouldn't have been able to predict.
For one thing, CVP required the use of acrylics which meant a change of medium from my beloved watercolours, at least temporarily. I did wonder how on earth I could give up all that transparent, watery (and easy to clean up!) loveliness for the messy gloop of acrylic! But something told me it was going to be worth it.
And it is the nature of risks that they don't always pay off. Maybe one out of very many will yield something sublime. Quite a few are downright ugly! And this is where acrylic is able to do what watercolour cannot - you can keep on painting over the bits that don't work until you have discerned which of your risks have been worth it. It also dries a lot quicker than oil so there's a practical element here too.
An artist who paints authentic, personal work is taking a big risk. They are showing their soul to the world in a way that cannot be described in words, hoping that another human being will connect with and respond to what is being communicated. Artists crave that connection and we risk exposing everything to achieve it. When it does happen, it's humbling as well as exhilarating.
I'm really excited to be showing my new work soon. If you'd like to see what I've been up to, pop in to Denbies Wine Estate gallery between 28th May and 3rd June.