I have a little ritual that I perform on New Years Eve that cleanses the frustrations of the ending year and opens the way for the future. It's not original to me: many artists throughout the ages have done this.
I rip up old paintings.
Some are paintings I've held on to for years - the Linus blankets that really need to go. Some are just really bad paintings. I'll admit, the first time I contemplated doing this it felt like a sacrilege - like writing in a library book. I worked my way through a stack of paintings and finally found - well, one that I thought I could do away with.
But I have to tell you, once I got past that first cut with the knife it was so liberating I went back and found a few more. Paintings that I had struggled with - ripped! Assignments - into shreds. I saved the stretchers - but the canvases with their thick globs of paint and those compositions that just never worked and the styles I'd tried out and discarded - those all went into the trash. Liberating. Out with the bad karma - in with the good.
So Happy Ripping Day. And on to a fabulous, productive, and positive New Year.
I agree with the thought behind the act - the other thing I like to do is to paint over the old in some random colour and use that as the basis for something new - very often it takes shape in my mind even as I am disfiguring the old - very liberating
Posted by: Steve Clement-Large | January 16, 2010 at 03:04 AM
Yes, Sherry and all who have also commented - dont you think it all has to do with letting go of expectations? Very empowering.
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Posted by: Sue Smith | January 09, 2010 at 07:21 AM
LOL, I can see where that would feel quite liberating. It brought to mind a time years ago, before I decided once and for all I am not a seamstress, that I hauled a jacket I had tried to sew out to the dumpster. A new life began.
Posted by: Sherry | January 08, 2010 at 10:00 AM
I burned some old pieces. It feels like lightening the load of things to do; making room for better pieces. It does take canvas board a long time to burn though!
Posted by: AscenderRisesAbove | January 05, 2010 at 09:13 PM
Thank you, everyone - for letting me know that we all experience our painting lives in similar ways!
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Posted by: Sue Smith | December 31, 2009 at 02:43 PM
Sounds like a good cleansing ritual. Now I'm wishing I'd saved a few more of my bad paintings instead of just shoving them in the garbage can. I still have several works on paper though that I hate, so maybe I'll unearth them and enjoy feeling them rip between my hands. Just thinking about it brings in a good energy!
Posted by: Dawn Blair | December 31, 2009 at 02:37 PM
Omygosh Sue! You have resurrected old memories yet again. Many many years ago in the beginning stages of my painting instruction, I lived in a rural area that allowed periodic outside burning. Each season I relished in a secret pleasurable purgative. After gathering all my “dogs” from the studio and cutting each off the stretchers, they were pitched onto the trash heap. Nothing could burn brighter or with greater dispatch than “paintings jubilee.” This solitary indulgent act was completely and thoroughly satisfying. I have never lamented the disappearance of those “starter” works. Happy New Year! Margret Short
Posted by: Margret Short | December 31, 2009 at 10:11 AM
Sounds like a great way to make room for more work. Happy ripping and Happy New Year to you!
Posted by: Katherine Kean | December 31, 2009 at 09:58 AM
Destroying old work can be very cathartic. I go for the rip and tear method myself - but James Gurney goes for the burn... check out his gallery flambeau!
http://gurneyjourney.blogspot.com/2007/09/gallery-flambeau.html
http://gurneyjourney.blogspot.com/2009/09/gallery-flambeau-video.html
Posted by: Susan Adsett | December 31, 2009 at 05:47 AM