these are my paintings for intermediate oil painting. It's kind of an ongoing question of what is or isn't art, and I was surprised to find as I walked into the studio with my artist statement that none of my pieces were art; that is, none come from a spark, provide a means to explore a concept, or satisfied me creatively. That is probably why this process was so draining. the problems I solve along the way when I sculpt are really interesting to me. There are questions of weight balance, scale, viewer engagement. And the materials! trying to get clay and feathers, or water and glass, or cloth and metal to integrate is fantastic because the trial runs suggest new ideas and options.

okay, everyone I know who likes my art likes my paintings. It's frustrating, because for one thing I don!
't like paintings in general or in particular so I don't understand what they are liking. And more than that, I know what goes on in my head while I paint ("how long has it been? am I done? my neck hurts. is light blue like white? yes. how long has it been? does this look like the picture? yes.") and what goes on in my head when I sculpt (oh my god oh my god oh my god, how am I doing this? oh my god I will eat 10 pounds of grapes and not come out of my cocoon until I am done. no, bacon is better. and I will call it baconalia. okay, I won't tell anyone the title. webcam? liveblog. time component? ) and I am taken aback that my closest friends can't see the difference between work produced in those two states of mind, or that they would prefer the slogging kind.