Beyond Eyesight

Often we see an image of artwork and, as an artist, invest thought into how long it took the artist to come to the final production.
In a quick glance, one may say "that looks simple."
But minimalism is not always simple.
After a great conversation with a friend, I started looking into Frank Stella's work.

He always sketched before he painted, the white lights being bare canvas he painted around.
That means he drew the whole thing out, precisely, and then followed the pencil lines with his paint brush just as precisely.
The fact that your eye can glaze and skim over the painting ultimately means he painted it so perfectly, there are no flaws. A crooked line or missing white section would draw your eye immediately. I can't imagine how much concentration and patience these paintings took him!
He wanted to emphasize the picture-as-object instead of the picture being a representation of something. The flatter, the better. He even cut his canvas to great more variation in shape.

This is my favorite. Color choice, shape, size.
There must be something about painting stripes that becomes so appealing to the artist.
Perhaps I am like Frank Stella.
I would consider that smile-worthy.

Reflection

Sometimes, we get obsessed with things.
We have phases.
I had a big nutella phase.
But often we don't realize it's become such a big part of our life, until we look back and reflect on it.
Accompanied by that "oh yeaaa" feeling or that "oh shit" feeling.

Today, I reflected.
And I discovered.
That I'm going through a striped phase.

It soothes me.
Which I need.
The holiday season is a tricky time.
Best to keep busy and keep optimistic.