Amending the Soil

I have been doing my inventory. It is a tedious exercise, but I have learned to appreciate it. Going through the process brings a vantage point from which to review the work done during the previous year, in this case three years, and that invariably triggers a reflexion.

As I look at each piece, I come across the ideas they explored and I can evaluate if I want to take them farther or develop something else from their potential. That creates a fertile ground from which to prepare my next year of work.

Then I clean the studio to make way for fresh mental and physical space. But before I put everything away, I keep a few chosen pieces. Some are accomplished, some are unresolved, begging to be taken care of. I put them on a wall, along with images of other artists, inspiring objects or photos that remind me of a composition, a group of colors, an impression. Together, they foster a silent but rich conversation.

I love having such a composition in front of me: it is a world of imagination and possibilities, a rich soil where my eyes can wander to renew their vision.
It is my feeding ground that I carefully amend.

 

Photo 1 : Louise Jalbert, “Red on Yellow Foliage”, 2016-2017, watercolor on paper, 7 x 11 and 15 x 22 inches, and various sketches, reproductions from the art of Pierre Bonnard, Marc Chagall, Mark Rothko, David Hockney, Henri Matisse, Claude Monet, and W.M.Turner.
Photo 2: Louise Jalbert, Watercolors from “Le nez dans l’herbe” series.