My indoor day was productive in prompting some research on painting and ordering this book
I had so wanted to get to this exhibition in Denver last summer but didn't manage it. Along with the wonderful images, the catalogue includes several essays which illuminate the historical and social background to the painting movement that came to be called Abstract Expressionism. And if I sometimes think it is hard being a woman in the art world, these women's stories made me grateful for how it is now. And more determined than ever to be strong in the service of my work.
Being strong for me includes:
- going to the studio and engaging in the work most days
- holding my work to high standards and to my core values
- taking care of the work: framing it well, protecting surfaces etc
- thinking about the finished pieces and the process so that I can talk and write about them
- speaking out on behalf of the work, in galleries, competitions and here.
Here is one of my recent pieces, painted with the strength of the wild west wind blowing around the studio:
Under the west wind. acrylic and pencil on watercolour paper. 59 x 84 cm. Lynne Cameron , 2017.
I'd be proud to call it an abstract expressionist painting, with gratitude for those strong women artists.