Color Lab - White Walls and Grouping Paintings

Image from Australian Vogue via Desire to Inspire.

I've been painting for a number of years, but didn't really believe I was an artist. Years ago an art professor, who I respected, told me an artist should never hang their own art in their home, to do so showed arrogance. I took that to heart and I believed him for a long time.

As my readers know, my paintings have been hiding in a closet for a long time. No more. I am bringing them out. And hanging them. And grouping them - which is totally new for me. I never used to group art because I didn't like competing images. But now I love playing with groupings, and it's all because of Kim and Jo at Desire to Inspire.

This is one of the first pics I saw when I discovered their marvelous blog. And it influenced me profoundly. I began to think, what if I turned my place into a gallery? What if I covered a wall in my paintings? I had already painted my walls white to accommodate art.

Here are my first attempts at grouping:


First attempt, June 2007. Thanks to Holly at Decor8 for featuring this during orange month.

Second attempt, September 2007.

Third and current attempt, October 2007.

This particular grouping pleases me. I tried to make the paintings appear as steps. Also, I incorporated canvases painted in a solid color. I often create canvases in one solid color, as a way to contemplate a particular color or combination, and to experiment with living with a color (for example I recently painted the silver canvas because I am intrigued by silver at the moment.)

Sometimes these canvases receive more paint, sometimes they stay in their simple form. I hand paint borders on the canvases to look like mattes, and I custom mix all of my colors.

Kim and Jo thanks for being a daily inspiration! And I am happy to report that I am an artist, it's not arrogance. It's fact.

P.S. This photo inspired me in another way as well. I adore those aboriginal lamps and want to experiment with making lamps. I will keep you posted!