Working in a series
Working in a series
A series is a group of paintings that go together, though they don’t have to hang together for each to make sense to the viewer.
When I work in a series, I make sure that each painting has its own unique quality, its own energy.
Often a group of pieces I painted around the same time have a similar style or energy. Sometimes it’s the color palette I’m painting with that is the similarity, sometimes it’s the tone. There’s a particular color or shape I want to play with, and sometimes it’s a challenge I give myself. It can be about a current event, or a spiritual lesson.
Like a chapter in a book, a series can organize a group of works. I can look back at the many series of paintings I’ve made over the years, the Tree Series, Leaf Series, Black & White Series, Heart Series, Energy Series, and so many more. I would become interested in working on particular images, or exploring a way of doing something with my work, and poof, here comes a series.
Working in a series can be deliberate, as in deciding to make a series about War and Peace, or it can just show up and I realize I’m working on a group of pieces that have a similar theme. The first series I made when starting to paint again in 2020 is The Explosion Series, which is all about clearing out the old in order to make room for the new to come, which was me letting go of my old pictures about painting so I could start again with fresh eyes.
The last series I created before I took a break from painting in 2010 was called the Agents of Change - I was heading into making some big exciting new changes in my life. A very early series of pieces are hand painted vinyl kimonos, The Kimono Series.
I love seeing the work of other artists, especially how they work in a series.
It’s fascinating to go to a well curated art exhibit, one with a strong theme, and just be in the energy that the artist has created. One of the first painters that lit the fire within me that got me to find my way to making abstract paintings is Gerhard Richter, whose spectacular giant colorful abstract paintings I was fortunate to see at the MCA in Chicago in 1988. It was so healing, and though he’d made many other kinds of paintings, I especially loved these abstract works of Richter’s.
I was completely emotional while walking through this exhibit, tears in my eyes, and blown away by my response to this work. This series rocked me to my core, I had a very real physical response. At the time, I was terrified to call myself a painter or paint, more terrified to be a painter of abstracts. It took me another 8-10 years or so to allow myself the space and freedom to make abstract paintings.
As a painter now, I am aware of how much space I need to give myself in order to allow the work to happen.
I’m older and perhaps wiser than I was, but also I have a different view of who my art is for: it’s for me! I heal myself doing this work, and more importantly, I have learned to have my space with other people’s opinions about my work. I simply do not give up space about whether anyone thinks it’s any good or not. I don’t care. Some people will love it, and they often tell me so. Some people won’t like it at all.
The best I can do is show up and do the work of making my work. And that is what I plan to do.