Friday, October 27, 2006

Jane of all trades, master of..... does it matter?

la la la la la, I love Etsy! Yes, I'm still singing that song... I feel like I'm HOME!! My besty Emily and I have forever talked about the dream gallery...(which every time evolves into gallery/workshop/studio/residency/farm/educational/non-profit/take over the world with good intentioned art and sustainability island/and beyond)... and the basic idea would be fine arts and crafts. We both appreciate the artistic value of a well made scarf, piece of jewelry, or furniture, as well as a painting or sculpture. We both like to support handmade or altered items, one of a kind finds. My friend Nan in California is doing just that in her gallery Art!Space in Livermore, CA (oh how I want to go see for myself!!). I would love to someday own this dream gallery, especially with Emily, but in the meantime it exists online in the form of Etsy!

There are many sellers that freely admit they love to get into all kinds of mediums, and they sell all of them in their store. These include fine artists, working in mediums like myself. As a painter, I've always been told that I must show a consistent voice and find that one thing I want to do and dive into it. I've done that by working in series, but each series is always a little different than the last one. I know some people could look at my figurative illustrations and then look at my more ethereal abstracts and say "I wouldn't have guessed these were by the same artist". Well, I guess not, but the fact is, they were. Every single piece that I create is authentically me, in it's own way, and they are all ultimately connected. This is me as an artist and as a person - I like to experiment and try new things, I also like to return to what I know and let the new things influence old means of communication... Ok that was pretty obscure, but I think you get me...

Point is, I can be myself by sharing all of the creations I make on Etsy and feel at home doing so. I'll be posting some pics of today's work later tonight...

3 comments:

Meghan Henley said...

Jessica, I know exactly what you mean by finding it hard to have a consistent voice. There is so much out there to be inspired by. I believe if we paint/draw the same way time and again, it will become boring. Keep pushing! I still see "Jessica" in each and every work you put out.

Anonymous said...

I hear you on this one...I always tell people I have artistic ADHD! I love to do a little of this and a little of that as my whim suits me!

Unknown said...

I like that Cynthia, Artistic ADD - that's perfect! It's great to hear from two very talented artists that I respect... glad to know I'm not alone in this thinking. Meghan, you are correct about pushing ourselves or else it becomes boring. For a little while in my early twenties I thought I had found my "thing" and I was going to milk it for all it was worth. I figured there was an infinite amount of paintings to do in that style. Well, there are, but are they all worth painting? Remembering this is a journey is a freeing thing. What's around the next corner? I'd rather it be something new and surprising than "new painting(boss) same as the old painting". Thanks for stopping by, friends!