Chelsea Margaret

With any luck, new photos of new work will be up by the end of the year. Hooray!

Though I’ve gone through periods of creating like mad, I’ve had long dry spells and it’s time to get the fruits of my labor up and out of my tiny little studio. My studio being a nice, quiet little corner of my nice, quiet little apartment. Any space is good space though, and it’s been a godsend for my peace of mind. Maybe someday I’ll build a little art shed in the backyard, or maybe even an art yurt if I’m feeling so inclined. But until then, my art corner is where I create.

Though I’ve loved working with collage, changing my medium has been a goal of mine for quite sometime. Collage work, though challenging, gets little respect. I realize that most people think that anyone can glue things together, which is true I suppose. I forgot how gratifying painting is! I have a long way to go if I want to be great, but just practicing portrait painting has been a real treat. As an artist, there’s few ways to feel more legit than to tell someone honestly that you’re a painter. It’s just so damn romantic, right? People are interested when you tell them you’re a collage artist, but if you tell them that you paint, their whole body relaxes, their head tilts to the side and they get all starry eyed. Really? They say. Their respect for you goes to the roof. They always tell you that they wish they could paint. And I’m not making fun. I do the very same thing when I meet a painter. When someone tells you they’re a painter, you’re hit with these images of a lone painter in a messy studio, paint covered easels, paint covered painter, canvases stacked up against the walls, maybe it’s all in a loft somewhere. I want to be a skilled enough painter to really merit that kind of blind adoration. When you get a reaction like that, you desperately want your work to meet the dazzling standards that warrant that kind of enthusiasm. So hopefully, with time, I’ll move from half-good portrait painter to compelling portrait artist.

We’ll see.

Till then, stay tuned!