Reflecting on InkTober...

No, I didn't post a new drawing every day for Inktober.

Not even close.  (Obviously.)

Yet, I did create a new drawing (that will be transferred to a canvas or panel this week, and which will become the start of a new painting by the end of the year).  Also, I did start a new painting, which you will see here shortly.

Perhaps tomorrow!

But, more importantly, InkTober did give me a chance to think about my art--and my art-making habits,--nd I arrived at a few sobering realizations, many of which I already knew, but hadn't internalized, or actualized.

(The time to internalize and actualize, is now.  Duh!)

I've come up with TONS of ideas for paintings, sculptures, and installations, over the years.  Hundreds easily, perhaps thousands.

I've discarded most of these (in all honesty, perfectly good) ideas because they remind me of another artist's work, or because they don't say what I think "my art" ought to say, or both.

This is a problem, first, because most people haven't seen the variety of art and artists I have, so they wouldn't recognize the similarities--and second,  if I create a number of pieces that each look "sort of like" a certain artist's work, together they won't' look like any one artist's work, and so will be taken as "my work", anyway.  Third, if I had bothered to develop these ideas past the "concept" stage, in all likelihood the simple act of me actually working on them would have taken them far beyond the "derivative" stage, and into a place where they would be built from "my style".

So, enough navel-gazing, enough "soul-searching", enough procrastination, enough feeling like I'm not good enough, or original enough--and far too many excuses.

New art is coming.

 Lots of new art.

Coming soon!