The word of the day

is didactic which I just found out is what I hate about my own work - I love doing the research and learning new things about a subject - but when I put it to "paper" I feel like I'm bashing people over the head with it... it feels far too literal and not poetic... however there is someone out there doing a spectacular job of it and he recently won the Turner prize.

Last time I felt this way was when I had an extremely feminist (male!) professor who felt I wasn't taking things far enough and I ended up feeling that my personal statements (which were my exploration of women in the world (as I was discovering my "womanhood" as it were - like when I was 20!?- seems so young now!) manifesting in my art were way too over the top. I ended up abandoning my painting studio and literal work and doing abstract sculpture out of sticks in my back yard - still with the same thoughts but completely different manifestations. I ended up winning the senior sculpture prize that year so maybe I should follow my gut on this one as well! Maybe I'm just not giving the thoughts time to percolate through my subconscous and come out the other side - if there is a Jungian global consciousness thing going on then I should be able to find some meaningful form of representation that doesn't have to be so literal. I guess I need to see more work that really resonates with me and feels like something I want to be doing and dissect the why and how... time to do more.... Research!!!

Had a great day for the brain - Rick took X down to the states for the day and the house was silent - after having guests for the past 2 weeks - it was quite strange but restful and I was able to listen to "Q: your daily dose of arts, culture and entertainment" which is a totally awesome radio show on CBC - which is how I made my discovery - on podcast while setting up the studio - let's hear it for the internet! Hopefully I'll now have a few good hours of painting - need a new image to send out for the Studio Tour promo stuff tomorrow....