Mill Stream
24×18″
Acrylic on panel
©2010 Lucinda Howe
$1,100
www.lucindahowe.com

For many of us, the first of the new year is a time of decluttering and organizing.  This is especially true for me this year as I have recently retired from a full time job and am making the transition to making more art, increasing my art marketing, and decluttering my home and studio.  The first big project, a kitchen renovation, is nearing completion (I hope I don’t jinx it by saying that).  Now I am deep into decluttering.

Cleaning out junk in our storage room and garage is a pain, but it’s easy compared to sorting out almost 20 years of painting and drawing.  I have found that I have  approximately 40 notebooks with drawings, notes, diagrams, color studies, marketing ideas, travel journals, and watercolor paintings.  I also have more than 400 paintings on paper, canvas, and boards.

Some paintings are completed.  By completed, I mean they are:

• signed,
• varnished,
• framed or wired for hanging,
• recorded in my inventory database,
• priced,
• photographed,
• labeled,
• posted on my website or Daily Paintworks with watermark and credit line.

Whew! Others are paintings are finished images but are undocumented.   Still others, unfortunately, have not yet decided what they want to be.  And may never amount to anything.  This is where the painful part of the decluttering comes in. I am saving a few of my early pieces that show how my work has changed, but I’m planning to gesso over some pieces that don’t represent my current direction…if I can make myself do it.

I’ve always loved flowers, gardens, and landscapes.  But my style has changed from pale watercolors to the bold colors on a red ground that I use today. A breakthrough came during an Artist-in-Residence stay at Oconee (South Carolina) State Park in 2010.  First time I felt that the red background was working and that I could use it effectively outdoors.  Painting alone in a safe place gave me as much time as I needed to work without distractions and to complete a several 18×24” pieces on site.  Although I try other things occasionally, I keep coming back to this style.

Mill Stream was  started at the park and finished later in the studio.  The purple in the rocks and beams provides a complement to the yellow green in the foliage and a bit of the red ground shows through. The historical nature of the old mill contrasts with the more contemporary colors.  I’m using this piece as a guide for the type of work to keep and expand upon.

How do you feel about an artist’s early work?   Should it all be kept as historical record, or does it make sense to purge?  What criteria can be used to choose what to keep?   Please post your comments and help me out with my decluttering project.