Outside critique

Yesterday, I met with Bobby Rosenstock for an outside critique of my work. He offered some helpful suggestions including that I look into Van Gogh's paintings of peasant's shoes.  He also provided some helpful suggestions as to the composition of future paintings and developing the life of current paintings.  I'm most excited about the idea of naming each individual painting as a person's name and/or a place. I have some reservations as to whether that would detract from the message I'm trying to get across, but that aside, I love the idea and think it could give the paintings that little extra 'something' they might need.

emotional baggage?

     Yesterday I had a class critique.  The feed back was helpful and I look forward to setting up a critique with someone from outside of the college.  I plan on finishing off my 3 paintings that are already started to clear some room for the next three. I have mixed feelings about my project. In some ways I never want to look at another suitcase. But, at the same time, I love it and how it has developed.
     The actual result hasn't changed much but the depth and context behind it has grown and progressed quite nicely. Originally my thoughts about suitcases were that they signify travel or moving out or some other obvious action associated with a suitcase. However, I've realized that it signifies all of these things at once. A suitcase signifies both a beginning and an ending simultaneously. My paintings suggest a general feeling as a positive, exciting change or a negative, dreaded change or anything in between, but a lot of the meaning comes from the viewer's own experiences.  Suitcases are possibility, uncertainty, and change all rolled into one. It's exciting! I'm toying with the idea of entitling the body of work 'Emotional Baggage'...

Looking forward

     As the spring semester begins and my project kicks into high gear, it is helpful to look forward. In an attempt not to get bogged down and stressed with the amount of work left to do I've been thinking about the end result. What do I want my project to become; what will be a viewer's first reaction to my paintings; what will people remember about my work?
     Obviously, I want viewers to be impressed with my paintings. Mostly, I don't want my projects to be one where people say, she could have done better, this doesn't show her potential, you can tell that she didn't put in the time and effort. I want my project to be high quality, to showcase what I've learned, and to convey the depth of suitcases as an object.