When I think about spending more time documenting and sharing here in my artist journal versus sharing on Instagram, I inevitably turn to how and what.
What kinds of things do I want to share here?
How do I want to present them?
And what I keep coming back to is the version of me who first started using this blog back in 2009…when I’d barely touched a paintbrush, didn’t have a husband or child, and only started this blog to get back into a daily writing practice.
I wasn’t building something for marketing purposes. I wasn’t following any rules or plans or strategies. I was showing up in this space for myself. The people who came to visit me here then were just a few friends, and that’s how I wrote — like I was talking to my diary and maybe a few friends.
Later this blog grew into tons more and created entirely new relationships and career paths. But the essence — what this space was built on and for — was solely for me and my own inspiration.
Sometimes to move forward you need to go back.
Back in October, I was fortunate enough to take a trip to San Francisco to see the Joan Mitchell retrospective at SFMoma. I’d prepared myself by devouring the extensive exhibition catalogue before even boarding the plane.
I’d call Joan an artist’s artist — she was all about the work. And while I’d seen a couple of her paintings in real life, nothing came close to walking through gallery after gallery of her impeccably colored huge canvases. I spent a few hours with her work, and it still wasn’t enough time. It’s one of those exhibitions that I wished were in my own city so I could visit it multiple times at leisure and really get to know all of the paintings intimately.
Joan Mitchell | Two Pianos | 1980 | SFMoma | Photo by Melanie Biehle
Joan Mitchell | La Ligne De La Rupture | 1971 | SFMoma | Photos by Melanie Biehle
Joan Mitchell | Untitled | 1961 | SFMoma | Photos by Melanie Biehle
Joan Mitchell | Weeds | 1976 | SFMoma | Photo by Melanie Biehle
Joan Mitchell | Hudson River Day Line | 1955 | SFMoma | Photo by Melanie Biehle
Joan Mitchell | Girolata Triptych | 1963 | SFMoma | Photo by Melanie Biehle
Joan Mitchell | Blue Tree | 1964 | SFMoma | Photo by Melanie Biehle
Joan Mitchell | La Vie En Rose | 1979 | SFMoma | Photo by Melanie Biehle
While I know my public artist journal won’t ever be “just for me” anymore, I still plan on treating it like that as much as possible. I want to be able to go back and reference this space when I need a creative boost. When I want to remember the things I saw that moved me. And the work of Joan Mitchell moves me. Always.
And I also want this space to be for you. For you to get to know me as an artist and a person. I’ll still be on Instagram because it’s fun for me (most of the time), but here and my newsletter is where I want to go more in depth.
For more about Joan Mitchell, please visit The Joan Mitchell Foundation.
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