I am often asked questions about being an artist or about my artwork. I thought I would answer the five frequently asked questions.
Question #1: How can I bear to part with my paintings when I sell them?
I feel like I haven’t painted my best painting yet. I always feel like my next painting will be my best painting so I am able to let go of a painting to make room for the next!
Question #2: How do I know when a painting is finished?
For me a painting is finished when I don’t see anything else that I want to change. But that doesn’t mean in a month or two or a year later, that I won’t put it back on the easel and give it a face lift!
Question #3: How long does it take to do a painting?
I paint 6 days a week and have for many years. When I am in the zone and painting well, I always say paintings fall right onto the canvas. It can be a day or two, three days, a week. Those are my most successful paintings. Spontaneity can equal magic. There comes a point where you are working it to death. All the life of the painting is gone. It would behoove me to stop sooner!
Question #4: Was I ever a dancer?
I love to paint the human form. Most buyers of paintings cannot wrap their head around putting a figurative painting on their wall that is someone that they are not related to. Even though if you walk into any art museum you will see tons of figurative paintings where the subject matter is the artist’s lover, mother, muse. However, I have found that dancers cross over that mindset. No, I was never a dancer unless you count one semester of ballet, freshman year at college. But I do love to paint ballerinas. So it is often assumed that I dance.
Question #5: How do I decide what to paint?
I never run out of ideas of what to paint. I have so many things that I want to paint that I am always looking forward to finishing what I am working on so I can start my next painting. Starting paintings is my favorite part of the whole process.
If you have a question you would like me to answer, email me at carol@carolmacconnell.com and I’d be happy to answer it. Maybe even feature it in a future blog!