Should an Artist Recycle their Art?

YESTERDAY I spent the whole day recycling art, or at least preparing to. There’s an awful lot of it!

So I’m writing to ask for help. Can you give a painting a new home? I need the space. Could you take delivery of a drawing or two?

Cutting and Painting

I originally took up cutting silhouettes to support my work as a painter. As time passed, however, these roles have reversed. Today it’s the painting which supports the silhouettes. I’ll be honest, cutting silhouettes can be repetitive. Even somebody will my autistic level of obsession with silhouettes does need an occasional artistic break! Otherwise the repetitive nature of the work can lead to problems.

I’ve seen this happen to other silhouettists. They begin full of talent and enthusiasm. Their work develops quickly and they become really good. But then they somehow stop; they reach a plateau. A few years later their silhouettes begin to look very similar: formulaic faces under a variety of hairstyles. Perhaps it doesn’t matter too much – as long as the guests are entertained and the client is happy – but to me it seems a terrible shame. It feels like a waste of artistic promise.

This is where painting comes in. The habit of drawing and painting is what keeps the silhouettes alive. Drawing is a wonderful way to train the eye, while painting in colour is a huge freedom for an artist always working in black. By filling my head with paintings I find I can keep the silhouettes alive.
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Full-Studio Syndrome

Whilst all this drawing is creative, it’s also a real problem. I left art college many years ago but have never really lost the art habit. The result is easy to see: folders of drawings take up all the selves, the canvas racks are full, over-used studio frames fill the wall space. The lack of space has become a real disincentive to paint. As an artistic business model, it isn’t working. The art has to leave the studio.

Over the last ten years I’ve been painting less and less. This is partly because of the increasingly international nature of my silhouette-cutting engagements. It’s also partly because I wrote a book (Mastering Silhouettes) and then made a film (Silhouette Secrets). I really did have to put my painting career on hold. However, I’m now realising that the main reason is simply because my studio is full. I cannot paint because there’s nowhere left to put the paintings!

Am I Mad?

Most people I talk to about this think I’m mad. There’s a received wisdom that artists should hang onto all their work “in case it becomes valuable”. They’re right, it may. So rehousing a work of art or two could represent an opportunity. It isn’t often that an artist clears out their own studio. I have, after all, cut the Queen’s portrait. Is it totally mad to think it may one day be valuable?

I also have this odd feeling that a big artistic change is coming around the corner. I’m not sure what or why, but understand the importance of these kind of creative premonitions. Whatever it is, I feel the need to give it space in the studio.

Mays Barn Studio Clear Out

If you follow me on Facebook you may already have seen pictures of this. I’ve been advertising a series of open days and inviting people to come in and take away some art. Yesterday and today are the first such days. The studio will be open tomorrow and more dates will soon be announced on Facebook for next week. 

Recycling art is a fascinating process. It involves opening folders of work and spreading them over the studio table. Mostly, I’ve no idea what’s in them, so they’re full of interesting surprises. There are huge numbers of life drawings, a smaller number of landscapes, and endless experiments with cutting and tearing paper. They range in scale from enormous to really tiny. There are also a number of painted carvings, some of which are quite large. I welcome any proposal for what to do with them.

I understand that not everybody can simply pop in and visit the studio, so I am offering a second option:

Option 1: Pop in and Rummage.Take what you want and make a suitable donation to a charity of your choice. Most of the work is unframed, so you will need to budget for a suitable frame. 

Option 2: An Art Postal Lottery.  Get in touch and let me know the size available and set a postage budget. I’ll choose something for you, put it in the post and send a Paypal request for postage. There’s no need to visit the studio and rummage, but your pictures may be an unexpected choice. Hopefully you’ll like it, if not you can pass it to somebody who does.

I hope you feel able to take part and will enjoy your new art! Will you join me in my studio?

Let me know your thoughts below!

 Postscript: some years later

Looking back at this post with the benefit of hindsight I’m amazed at the way this happened. There were so many times during lockdown, as I struggled to pivot my work online and develop my Online Portrait Studio, when I thought to myself “Thank God I cleared out the studio!” I really did need the space.

Taking place just a year before the Covid-19 pandemic, my mad studio clear out was well timed in the extreme. I cannot believe this was really the ‘creative premonition’ I felt, about some big change just around the corner, yet in retrospect it does seem that way.