Time away from the painting

When do you know something's finished? Sometimes I work and work on a painting until I know it is finished, but there are other paintings that simply lose their essence or energy when they are overworked and I'm thinking a lot about how to prevent that from happening. .
I'm learning to stop, to leave and come back to it after time. I'm learning to see my work differently.

I made these gestural drawings-painting in June, while I was working on a sculptural piece "string of vibrations". I actually didn't see the close connection at the time. They remained unfinished and I didn't even consider exhibiting them in my exhibition "out from in-between" in August.

I met an artist, who's name I can't remember, who was doing a residency with me in Tyrone Guthrie centre around 2004. He would make lots and lots of drawings during an intense  period of time and then he put them into a cardboard box and stored them for (maybe) a year. After an extended period of time, he took them out and evaluated them. Isn't that an interesting work process? I love how time becomes an element of the work.

Time certainly creates distance and it helps me see my work more objectively


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