Q: Your pastel paintings are immediately recognizable as yours alone. Did you consciously try to develop a signature style in your work?
Barbara’s studio
A: I don’t believe that is even possible. An artist’s style is something that evolves with plain hard work and experience, over many years of trial and error, as one finds what techniques work best and discards those that don’t. It is a process of continually experimenting, refining, and clarifying. In other words, style is something that emerges naturally as you gradually strive to improve your art-making.
Style develops in close connection to what an artist is saying as she undergoes a very personal and idiosyncratic journey. Again, it would seem improbable for an artist to strive for any particular style, since style is not something over which an artist can exert much conscious control.
I would even say that each artist’s unique style is inevitable. It would be nearly impossible now to make a pastel painting or photograph that does NOT look like a Rachko.
Comments are welcome!
Posted on November 21, 2015, in An Artist's Life, Art in general, Art Works in Progress, Black Paintings, Creative Process, Inspiration, Painting in General, Pastel Painting, Photography, Studio, Working methods and tagged again, art-making, artist, clarifying, connection, conscious, consciously, continually, control, develop, discards, emerges, evolves, exerts, experience, experimenting, gradually, idiosyncratic, immediately, impossible, improbable, improve, inevitable, journey, naturally, paintings, pastel, perfect, personal, photograph, possible, process, Rachko, recognizable, refining, saying, signature, something, strive, Studio, techniques, undergoes. Bookmark the permalink. Comments Off on Q: Your pastel paintings are immediately recognizable as yours alone. Did you consciously try to develop a signature style in your work?.
