Eschew cliches! Avoid them like the plague!

I'm finding it difficult to get back in the groove after a few days in the above idyllic setting!! It's South Carolina.....a reasonable drive from Georgia.

I think it was Hemingway who always left work at a place where he could start writing again immediately he returned. It’s fun to come back to something and see if it still looks (or reads) like you thought it did!! And the piece I left pinned up on the wall (amidst a great deal of clutter I'm ashamed to note!) to “mature” while I was away doesn’t look too bad (“not too bad” is an Englishism which means “hmmm this may be just right!” ).


However, I always worry that a piece is too “smooth” – I find I prefer art that is more personal, even if it’s a little bit wrong and has rough corners sticking out all over the place! If it’s too smooth and polished off and complete, it has no freshness. Brenda Ueland (If You Want to Write) emphasizes “breaking through the shell of easy glibness to what is true and alive underneath”; Mia Michaels (If You think You Can Dance) looks for dancers whose performance is honest and genuine rather than the over-rehearsed shallowness of the competition style.

Furthermore, My New Year’s Resolution was To Take Risks! Without some recklessness and boldness, only trite solutions can occur. I’m inspired by painters like Mary Newcomb who use simplification to draw the eye to “surprising essences”.

I look again and again at the piece pinned up on the wall hoping that I have achieved an elegant and enigmatic economy. It's based on a drawing I did of the view of St Ives in Cornwall from the rooftop cafe of the Tate Museum. We never did get a cuppa tea!! but the view made up for it. I vow to take more risks with the next piece!!

Elizabeth