Positive negativity?

Art seems to have gone off the boil slightly these last two weeks. My planned painting time the weekend before last was interrupted by life, and then I already knew this weekend just gone would be too busy.

To make up for it I am keeping my fingers crossed for rain tomorrow so I can sit and have a painting day. I have inspiration lined up thanks to my Facebook followers suggestions, and paint and canvasses waiting to be used. Tomorrow I may well be turning off the computer, unplugging the landline and putting my mobile on flight mode (probably, not really).

Whilst I have felt off track, I have still managed to sell a few mugs and prints over the last couple of weeks, so that is still something, and I am hoping my latest painting will be purchased once July turns into August. I could really do with the pick me up of an unexpected painting sale at the moment, just to lift me up a little. I guess perhaps I shouldn't worry though, as after visiting the Munch exhibition at the British Museum, maybe a little bit of anxiety and depression is a good thing, although I can't really pretend I am anxious or depressed as I am not really that kind of person.

Whilst Munch's work is not necessarily my cup of tea, I have a lot of respect for his work; He was the first protagonist of Expressionism, trying to show how things felt, rather than just how things are, or appeared. This is very important to me as I try to do the same. Not try to show the inner turmoil, or the isolation, or the black thoughts, like him, but to do the opposite. Show the beauty of nature, the cool breeze, the bright colours, the optimism, the beauty of human endeavour in fantastic buildings, the spectacular nature of every tiny thing and how it has come into being against all odds. Don't get me wrong, I have dark days, and I have been through some terrible things, we all have and I can empathise better than most, but I don't want to share that with you. I want to share all the reasons you should keep going and be positive - a walk always makes me feel better, or the colours of a sunset, colours in general make me feel better. I found this interesting in Munch's work as almost all of it on display was black, sometimes with a highlight of red or yellow to show you something important. Black is a powerful colour and one I rarely use, except for outlining. It is interesting to see what you need in a piece of work, I don't need to see something isolating and sad, I am good at feeling that on my own, I would rather see something colourful and uplifting, but I know lots of people like seeing something they can connect with or that reflects the mood they are in.

I am not sure why this blog post has got so deep as it was meant to just be a review of Edvard Munch at the British Museum, but I am obviously feeling very reflective today. Either way, if you want to see some deep, powerful and strong emotive work, you should definitely check out Munch's catalogue of images. If you need to look at something positive afterwards, then I guess you should take a look at mine: lauraholart.co.uk