“I was born lost and take no pleasure in being found.”
John Steinbeck, Travels With Charley

Look Forward

Artist Jim Dine said something to the effect of, and I am paraphrasing here, “Once I finish a painting, the party is over. The painting now has to take care of itself”.

He said this because, for him, making paintings is more important than finished paintings. After he finishes a painting, he immediately looks ahead to working on the next painting. It is all about process for him.

I resonate with his “Look ahead” philosophy. I am more interested in making than admiring. I try to always be in the present and the future with my art. I am not so much concerned with what I have created in the past.

I do look at past work, of course, but only for what I can learn from it, in order to make my next piece better.

The other thing that I try to do is not worry about what I did, or what happened in my studio, yesterday. I try to be all about what I am going to do today (or tomorrow).

And, I try not to go into the studio with the goal of “fixing” what I did yesterday. Fixing implies that what I did yesterday was wrong. What I did yesterday was what I did yesterday. The painting is in progress and just not finished yet.

I find that, for me, it takes much more energy to look back than to look forward.

Best,

David

P.S. I'm looking forward to helping an intimate group of artists improve their figure drawings & paintings next weekend at my home studio. Wanna come? Details directly below.

[NEXT WEEKEND]

Atascadero, CA (SLO County):
MIXED MEDIA FIGURE DRAWING & PAINTING WORKSHOPS

DAY 1: Saturday, April 13

During Day 1, you will focus on creating more dynamic figure drawings by exaggerating the movement of the entire pose while capturing the movement in your drawings.
(20-minute poses from a live model)
Tuition $155, Maximum 10 Artists | 4 Spaces Remaining
Click to Enroll

DAY 2: Sunday, April 14

Day 2 focuses on exaggerating the contours (or what I call “topography”) of the figure in a pose. You will learn how to take advantage of the curves, straights, sharp angles and round corners that present themselves.
(One-hour poses from a live model)
Tuition $155, Maximum 10 Artists | 5 Spaces Remaining
Click to Enroll

[SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA]