Individual Artist Project

As mentioned, after I have had a few months of painting large?fully letting myself free to build a new portfolio of work?I believe the community will enjoy seeing work that perhaps has not been seen around here. Also, this will certainly translate into helping me to become a better teacher in my community. Not necessarily in regard to painting large physically, but more-so in the concept of painting large emotionally. With the numerous conversations I've had with other artistic people (and parents of creative kids), it seems pretty clear that we all will benefit from my classes.; My end-game here is to climb out of the jail of constraints that I feel like I've been trapped in over the past number of years due to the small space I have had to work in. And, not just physically; almost more importantly is emotionally. Painting small has certainly taught me to become very aware of details of color, composition, and subject matter. It has forced me to concentrate on understanding nuance of medium, substraits, and techniques, for which I am grateful. But now my own spirit is calling me to step outside of that safety box and add in the dimension of "juice" (as I refer to it). This being the that freedom to be bold and more emotionally exciting in my work. How I measure the outcomes is as I always do. First is my own reaction to the work. How does it make me feel? How did I feel in making it? Does it represent authenticity? How does the public react? How do the pieces sell? What might the press have to say about the work? First, the more I have come to understand the importance of self-challenge, the more I understand how this will help me become more proficient and upping the quality of my painting. This is the great thing that is significantly happening within me right now. The grants that I have been awarded in the past have all been even more rewarding to my community and myself than I had even hoped. A "Window Dressing" challenge I made up to beautify an old mercantile building in downtown Aitkin some 4 years ago is still garnering accolades and appreciation from residents and businesses. A showing at Jaques Art Center was a solid financial success to myself and Jaques has reaffirmed it to be one of the best shows they have had. I have donated some of my pieces to local organizations to help in fundraising events. Children's art classes I taught this summer at Jaques were an obvious and very fun success. The community is asking for more. These have all been Arts Grants.; The true measure of outcome is the degree of joy in making it, and the degree of satisfaction/pride in the finished work. The only way to measure that is inwardly. Being as I am my own harshest critic, I will definitely know if I have achieved success with each piece?or not. Public reaction is not always a reliable source of feedback because (especially Minnesotans) tend to be polite and kind. But there are those in our community who a good at giving helpful feedback. I have also just recently joined a Facebook group that tactfully and very helpfully provide very constructive feedback on paintings submitted. I have not yet put anything up there to be critiqued, but I have no doubt that with the new work that I will be accomplishing, I will be excited to put paintings up on the page for solid feedback I can trust. Of course the surest sign of success is the sales of your work. So we'll see how the public responds with their pocketbooks.