Erika Allison's Artastic Blog

Breaking the rules… or not

Posts Tagged ‘finishing touch’

The Final Finishing Touch

Posted Monday, May 3rd, 2010

Dont_Suck_Me_In_2010

“Don’t Suck Me In”

25″x31″x2″

Now, for the fun!  As I said in the last post, I already had the idea for the coup de grace.  I just needed for the white paint to dry before installing it.  I wanted sequins – big, shiny, tacky sequins.  You’ve seen them before, usually on used car lots or sleazy liquor stores.  Big, shiny sequins blowing in the wind, catching the sunlight and glinting with each flutter.  I hunted for big sequins.  I couldn’t find any ready-made.  So, what’s an artist to do?  Make them, of course!  I cut out circles of metal and punched holes with my paper punch.  I wasn’t sure if the paper punch would be strong enough to do the trick, but I got lucky.  Then, I had to install them.  I used double point tacks.

I don’t know if you can see the words I have lettered in towards the right side of the painting like you would if it were full resolution:

  • opportunity
  • prosperity
  • Growth
  • possibilities
  • expansion

The painting has meaning to me.  Maybe it does for you, too.

I woke up thinking about this painting I did at the end of 2009.  It has been titled and shown already.  But, I’m still thinking about it.  It’s not truly finished.  It’s missing something.  I think I realized that all along.  And, yet, for some reason, I showed it anyway.  Shame on me!

The painting, “Don’t Suck Me In”, is missing pizzaz, the final touch.  It needs that one more thing.  I remember thinking about it as I was “finishing” it.  I just never came up with what that one final touch should be.  There are so many options at this point in a painting.  That final touch could be a paintstroke, a mark of some kind, a found object…  The hard part is figuring out which option will be the coup de grace.  It’s a critical time in the process of making a piece of art.  Is that last touch the coup de grace or the disastrous mark that makes the work OVER worked?  It is critical that an artist knows when a work is done.

Many times I have made my final mark and been so pleased with myself.  Aha!  The perfect mark that adds just what was needed.  Without that mark, the painting just isn’t finished.  Then, it seems that I will forever remember that final touch that made a particular painting.  Maybe I even get a little too impressed with myself!

Well, I would like to find that perfect mark right about now!  I could use something to gloat over.  The truth is, I’m struggling with this one.  Like I said, I actually woke up thinking about this.  That’s a good start.  I  had the idea of what to do next.  And so….I headed into the studio right after getting the coffee brewing.  The idea I had come up with had many possibilities, as usual.  Now, it’s time to pick one and JUST DO IT!  And, so I did.  I did not have to change the title of the painting.  I have perhaps added some depth to the meaning.  We’ll see.

I’m still not certain that it’s finished.  I will keep it up on the easel and pop in and study it.  At some point I will decide that I’ve come up with a good finish…or not.

“Don’t Suck Me In”, 25″x31″x2″, is still in progress.  The painting posted is the “Before” version.  I never understood why artists sometimes dated their work to include more than one year.  I’d think – it took that long?!  Now, I get it.  I will have to add 2010 to the date on the back.  It says 2009.  So, now, it will read 2009/2010.  It didn’t really take me 2 years.  Well, I’m not done yet.  Who knows?

I will photograph the work and post my progress in another post.  Who knows how long this might go on?

Dont_Suck_Me_In