Your Mistakes Aren't Big Enough

At least that is what the visiting NYC art critic told us many years ago in graduate school. This advice was appropriately given, as we were trying hard to "perfect" our craft. If you are trying too hard, your art might be stale and predictable. I strive for exaggerated, simplified, abstracted, quirky, or free-flowing raw expression.  Here lies the potential to evoke emotion, reveal an essence, or stimulate questioning. I encourage my students to make big mistakes!  Why not get more creative with scale, proportion, color and texture? 

"I decided that if I could paint that flower in a huge scale, you could not ignore its beauty."  (Georgia O'Keeffe's reply to people asking her why she painted her flowers so large. She also mused that they never asked her why she painted her rivers so small.)  

Poppy Garden and Taos Mountain, oil and copper foil, 30x20

There's time to join me May 30th-June 1st at Madden Museum of Art in Denver, for a 3 day "Intuitive Abstract Painting" workshop.  Contact Hillary to sign up! And check out my workshop schedule here.

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