Oh, the tension of a deadline.  I wish I could say that it was a tension I enjoyed. It isn't.  And yet, as my November show approaches I am filled with creative tension.  I know that I must complete the work for that show and it must be complete soon.  Really soon.  Like, tomorrow soon.

In order to have time to send my images to my production team they need to be in transit by Monday morning.  I'm close and I know I'll make it but I'm really ready for this body of work to be done.  It takes a couple of weeks to turn electronic images into metal prints and get them shipped from California to New York, unpacked, signed, repacked and delivered to the gallery.  I like to leave a few extra days in case there is a glitch.  I've learned it's always best to expect a glitch then just be pleasantly surprised if there isn't one.

However, there is an upside to this kind of tension.  That upside is what tension does to the thought process.  Take for example this image.  Just a few hours ago it was in its raw state, uncorrected and only the top half was actually there.  There was no torn paper falling away.  But, as I was working on it I felt it lacked an element of drama.  It seemed too static.  I suddenly wanted more TENSION in the image, more ACTION.  And then, just like that I knew exactly what it needed.  Paper falling away.

That's how it works sometimes.  I don't really understand how this tension-aided, intuitive thought process works.  I just know that tension in the art making process often yields good art.  The image isn't titled yet and it isn't proofed yet.  It may get a bit of adjustment here and there but essentially this piece has come together for me.  This morning all it had was raw potential.  Tonight it fits squarely inside the body of work it is a part of.

I have been busy in my studio preparing for my coming solo show at Exhibit A in Corning.  It's always a challenge to create a body of work that will be seen as a solo show.  I've set a goal of 15-20 new works that will be visually cohesive and perhaps somewhat tied together in subject matter as well.  

This is my third large solo show.  Last year I was at Mansfield University with Sticks and Stones and Bits of Bones and in 2010 I was at Exhibit's A's former space for Between Gratitude and Regret.  This show isn't titled yet but I need to be thinking about one soon. The images so far are featuring fruit laden subjects with Renaissance symbolism references.  Many of the images center around the idea of unwrapping or revealing.  Five of the metal prints have been made and ten more are in that part of the process.  I think there will likely be about five more  finished in time for the show.  I'm looking forward to seeing this new body of work hanging together in a completed state where I can reflect on it as a whole and share it with the public.  It's an exciting time filled with creative energy and tension.  Artists often produce some of their best work when they have been working toward a larger goal like this.  I call it "hitting the sweet spot" when the work just rolls out intuitively.  There is just a creative flow that kicks in and takes over.  I wouldn't call it effortless but the effort seems to get an assist from a place in my thought process that requires this tension to surface.  Whatever that is, I always welcome it when it comes.

The piece above was inspired during the holidays last December.  My Mom was using a mechanical apple peeler to peel apples for pie making.  As the peels lay on her kitchen counter I was inspired by their inherent linear qualities and I took several photographs.  At the time I really never thought they would become the inspiration for a series of work but they worked their way into my subconscious and resurfaced in late summer as image dialogue.  Here's to that process and how a fleeting moment drifts into the artists psyche and emerges as a new work at a later time.