Maybe now it's called "Hunger"

I apologize for the inexpertly Photoshopped image. It fell victim to my camera work and perhaps I should've reshot it, but I was eager to post the image online.

I had my grad school interview with Mass Art on Tues and it brought up some interesting issues for me concerning my work. It was suggested that I had not really achieved a dialogue or integration between my painted images and the abstract substrate of my paintings. And I agree. The birds are somehow seemingly superfluous. I am thinking on why I incorporate them and what I may be hoping to ask or investigate with them. Formally, I am beginning to allow the paint to violate the borders of the birds. I am also continuing to introduce new realistic elements throughout the entire process of the painting hoping that this will be a start to better integrating them into the many layers of mark. This piece was already on a trajectory to go "over the top" visually, but an issue that I voiced during the interview was that I was seeking to make my work opulent or gaudy. I know that I haven't quite pushed it as far as I can go - so here's my latest effort.

Heal

Heal

I worked in the studio last night which is unusual for me. I generally spend my days painting. But I think there is something to be said for the change in routine to shake things up. I went a little wild and began pressing stuff into the paint to affix it to the panel. I'll take a breather to see what I think, and if I like it, I plan to build it up more. For now there are some lengths of lace, a few buttons, and strands of thread dotting the picture. Perhaps like the materials a bird would use for a nest...

Heal, 4' x 2'

Here's the first of the three two foot by four foot panels I am working on in the studio at the moment. I remember saying I was stuck when I began the last "sketch" Flutter. I suppose now I am considerably "unstuck". The painting is lurching and reeling towards something right now. It feels awkward, but positive. I am opening up to the possibilities of accident and mess and the grotesquely beautiful. When I told this to my husband, he mutely nodded and left the studio. I suppose he was confirming the "grotesquely beautiful" part (in the kindest possible way). No matter. I think I'm onto something.