Sometimes I set up a challenge for myself – well, more accurately it’s a dare inside a challenge. I never could resist a dare. Drawing a butterfly with clear wings? Fantastic! One of the first insects I ever drew was a glass wing butterfly. I recently found that drawing, from my junior year in high school, and my skills were better than I remember. I used colored pencil then, I’m using colored pencil now. Butterflies then, and now. Clear wings then, and…so it continues.
I think there is a lot to be said for repetition, something being sought after. Much like I don’t believe in art for art’s sake I also don’t believe in the relentless pursuit of the “new.” I guess my choice in how I create my work speaks volumes to that. But we do ourselves a great disservice to think those boring old mantras of “there’s nothing new in art” – it’s total nonsense. People especially think this in figuration. I take great joy in obsessions, mine and those of other artists. It’s revelatory, it’s a thought process, it’s an indicator of what a person finds important or terrifying. It’s how we process the world we are given and the world we create. I could go on and on but instead I present the Clear Wing Butterfly.
