Critique and Criticism

It's been my experience in the past, whether it be an art show that I attend, or just have my paintings featured in, that everyone has an opinion.  These opinions are something that I treasure, good, bad, or otherwise.  Ten people viewing the same piece of art see it in ten different ways.  This to me is amazing, and one of the reasons I shy away from titling or pushing too much of my interpretation into a piece.  The feedback I receive continually helps me to grow as an artist, and challenges me to find new ways to apply the oils to the canvas.  I'm continually looking for new and exciting ways of accomplishing a piece of artwork.

 I welcome criticism, constructive or not, because the opinions voiced leads me to greater expectations of myself.  One of the only ways to grow as an artist is to get your work out there.  You'll find ways to improve it, and to try new things.  Not everything works.  Not everything is perfect.  Not everything is going to be liked by everyone.  Sometimes controversy or the shock factor is what gets you  noticed.  Being legally blind and having my perspective skewed due to the lack of visual acuity, I am continually interested in how the sighted world views my art.  How they see things, though not intentional, show up in some of my work. 

In one of my past floral paintings, my mother in law swore that beneath one of the flower petals was a dwarf peering out at the viewer.  Again, this was not intentional, but if a sighted person says it's there, I'll take their word for it!  Another happy accident.