
The
Montage Deer Valley series of painting studies are stacking up in my
Pacific Beach studio. Frankly, it’s kind of a mess in here and I have a
studio visit scheduled today. But I don’t have time to tidy up so they'll just have to see the studio in all of its disheveled glory.
The mess, the bad studies, the abandoned canvases, its all part of the creative process. This is the part the patron doesn’t see. It’s like a messy kitchen.
Although I have to say, I was amazed by Thomas Keller’s kitchens at
The French Laundry and
Bouchan in Beverly Hills. At the end of the night, you could lick the floor and none of the chefs had a single spot on their white smocks. I actually looked for spots.
Not me. I’m smeared with paint. That’s why I wear a full-length disposable paint suit and vinyl gloves from Home Depot. But paint will often appear on my face or land on a spot behind my ear.
The point of creating these studies, twenty to thirty, is to arrive at just a few images that I’m compelled to explore further. Studies that I’m excited to reinterpret on a larger scale custom canvas for one of the
Montage Deer Valley Residences models.
Many of my
Deer Valley painting studies will be scrapped, like a reporter’s rough drafts. The remaining gems will be offered to art collectors in the
originals section of
annrea.com.
This time of creative chaos is a time when I’m feeling unsure. What will this final large-scale painting look like? I have no idea. There is no straight path to follow. I just have to be open to this mystery and trust that I will arrive at the answer.
The creative solution comes from following a path of intuition, feeling, and relaxed confidence. If I tense up, the painting tenses up. If I glide through and just let the mistakes stack up, the answer emerges.