When Time Defines

I try a lot of things in my work. I’m always experimenting (some might call it playing…). Sometimes a capture suggests a particular effect that previously resulted in a successful work, and I’ll try to follow that course. But every single work is different. Every one. The same template rarely works twice. In fact one bit of feedback I received at an exhibit was that all my works on display were clearly mine but none of them reflected exactly the same style. I go back and forth in thinking that was a compliment.

So I decide on a capture I want to work with, I start throwing things at it; when it starts moving a direction that appeals to me for any number of reasons I’ll follow that course until it no longer appeals, in which case I’ll start over, or I feel it’s finished. I don’t throw out much. I rarely give up. And when I feel I’ve done with it I’ll throw it out there where people can see it and wait to see how it plays. 99% of the time when I display a new work I believe something about it has value. There have certainly been works I didn’t expect people to like that people do, and works I really, really like that no one else seems to. And, of course, some complete bombs. But I throw everything out there to see what happens.

This work here – I really don’t like it.

I wrote in my last blog that my eye is attracted to strong lines. Edging creates strong lines – edging means the subjects of a work stand out. Edging is usually – usually – after basic exposure and cropping, where I start. This is the opposite of edging; call it ‘diffusion’. Diffusion essentially reflects the works of the late 19th Century impressionists. One of my most popular works, currently hanging on exhibit, uses diffusion. And I agree, it works quite well there.

This work here – not so much.

At least not to my eyes. I went about the diffusing process a little differently here. Usually I use a radial approach. This one uses long, diagonal strokes, and I’ve never done that before so, yeah, it hits me a little different. Normally a work takes a little time to ferment in my mind before I fully know how I feel about it – at least a few months. Sometimes it takes years. Even if I know right off the bat I really like something or I really don’t. Even when I’m positive how I feel about a work, a few months will go by and I’ll look at it in a different light and see something I didn’t before and my attitude about it will shift.

This time, I’m pretty positive, this one is a bomb. But I’ve been wrong before. So you tell me. Really – all of you. Can you hear the fuse tick, tick, ticking … ?