Elin Pendleton, Bonfires of Paintings

Did I mention that I was going to burn about one third of my body of work? Over 220 paintings went into a bonfire last week, and it was cleansing and freeing. I've been sorting through the work I have created over the last three decades, and decided it was time to cull the ones I wouldn't want around to be examples of my legacy.

Was it hard to do? Yes, and yet no. Seeing and evaluating each work on an individual basis was like going back in time... remembering the places I've been, the events surrounding each of the paintings. In that regard, it was hard. But for the quality of the work, it was easy. After all, who is going to know or care what I felt or thought while I painted that garbage piece? Most collectors only want the best works, and they want to know the back story on those paintings alone. The angst I felt when I struggled through (and never completed) poorly designed and poorly executed paintings is of no importance to anyone except me, and YOU. You? Yes, because everyone wants to know that even the good artists have cr*ppy paintings.

The image above is a 12 x 16 reworked from that pile of bonfire paintings. I demonstrated how to fix a lousy painting during the Fallbrook workshop yesterday, by painting over it using the Color System to change it from almost evening light to DEFINITELY evening light. This is now a survivor of the bonfire. Here is what it looked like before I pulled it from the flames....

I'm sending my stuff to Georgia tomorrow and am flying myself and Sparky there next Saturday for three week-long workshops to teach. Tons to do before that, and I'm SO looking forward to Georgia and Florida in Spring!!!

You can see my entire blog HERE.
My workshop schedule for 2010 is HERE.
Color System information can be found HERE.
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