Second and Third of Proposed Group of Paintings

Developing Craft Assignment Proposal

I am proposing to work on something I have never done before, that being non-representational or abstract paintings.  The painting I did for the uni-task assignment is the first of many paintings.  I want to work on paintings in a new way, a previously unexplored way.  This body of work is a long time coming.  I will follow where the brush takes me, curvilinear most likely, with organic, uncontemplated compositions.  I will attempt anything and everything all at once.  Nothing is off limits.  I have already started another painting for this body of work, and the action of painting seems to be compulsive.  I start painting and stop only when I need to let a layer dry.  This compulsion to paint is new to me even though I have painted for over a decade.  Stay tuned, this is going to be interesting.

Uni-Task Painting

I attempted uni-tasking the other day.  I painted and did nothing else for an entire hour.  I found it not too different than when I usually paint.  But when I usually paint it is one of many tasks being done at the same time.  It seems that my painting ability isn't at all affected by the number of tasks I am completing simultaneously.  Normally paintings take as many as 20-50 hours to complete when painting something representational, so I decided to paint something non-representational.  Here it is after approximately 3 hours of work.  I don't think the fact that I uni-tasked made any difference in the outcome.  I don't think I will resort to uni-tasking in the future when painting because I don't think it made any difference at all.

Artmaking Personal Preferences

When I start working on something it is unlikely that I know where it is going.  I generally have a vague idea where the work is headed, but I don't always get there.  That is why I no longer plan what I am doing, but rather I just start at some random place in the painting and work out from there.  I have a very messy workspace that tends to spark my creativity in the strangest of ways.  I don't mind a messy workspace because I tend to be more efficient with it the way it is rather that keeping it spotless.  When it comes to the task itself I am definitely a multi-tasker.  I have difficulty focusing on painting when there is no "white noise" to drown out my thoughts.  You would think that thoughts are good, but they are a distraction for sure.  If I am thinking about a book I might stop to read it.  If I am thinking about a photo I am working on I will stop and attend to that.  Of course that is only when I am stuck at a point in a painting and I am having difficulty working through it.  I perpetually have the television or radio on in the background and I always have something beside me to drink, most often coffee or tea.  The time of day I work depends on my mood, but only time I am still working in the morning is when I have not stopped working from the night before.  I live by myself so there is no one to walk in and bother me.  I do enjoy distractions even though I do work late at night.  I like to check my email or facebook for messages from my sisters and maybe stop for a snack.  I attempted working for 30 minutes straight without anything else on.  Only the lights illuminating the canvas, oil paint and odorless mineral spirits beside me, and not a thing to listen to.  I did enjoy it for the limited amount of time I spent, but I don't think I could work for 5 hours straight without anything to listen to.  And when I do work, it is for 5 to 10 hours straight so I don't think the uni-tasking will work for me one bit.  Next time I try uni-tasking it will be for an entire hour to see if I am more efficient at completing an artwork.  I am sure I will have more of an insight when it comes to uni-tasking after spending an hour with a painting.