Sometimes I look at various framed pieces of art that I did several years ago - and still have on my walls - and see so many things I want to change. Colors that I wish I had chosen differently, a pastel stroke (or many) here or there that I should have omitted or applied, or even the composition. But it doesn’t seem right to change them somehow.
In thinking about it today, it occurs to me that even though I will most likely never be a well-known artist, I should nonetheless have integrity with my own self and my progression of work. Each particular piece represents the artist and the person I was during that time - my abilities, my experience, my choices. And to remove it from the frame and alter it is like trying to change my own past.
Should we work to correct our art errors of the past?
On the pieces that have completely lost our original favor, should we destroy them? Sell them in a garage sale? Or just hide them in the back of the closet?
2 responses so far ↓
1 leslie // Sep 24, 2008 at 12:55 pm
Rather than go back over old artwork, I use it as a “preliminary sketch” and just make a new piece of art.
Some old stuff will have one little corner that I like, and the rest is Yuk, but I utilize the good corner to jump off from.
I rarely destroy stuff, and it does tend to pile up and collect dust, but I have been known to do a purge from time to time, and I very unceremoniously throw the stuff in the bin.
Then I make more!
2 Joanna // Oct 2, 2008 at 12:49 pm
Hey, Regina -
I saw this post last week and wanted to comment but didn’t have time. I’m a bit of a hoarder which I hang on to things longer than I should. So, I can’t comment on that point. But, I do think that, rather than just toss something, you should go for the do-over. Then you can see if you really did get better. And, even if the old stuff makes you cringe, you can look at the old one and the new one side-by-side and appreciate the progress you’ve made. At some point, though, we all have to get rid of the old stuff to make room for the new. Or build a bigger warehouse.
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