A long and exhasting day updating my price list and catalogue; listing everything (or correcting). First weeding out the digital works, so only paintings, sculptures (which were never in there), watercolours (lots, from live events like Splash of a Smile, and the illustrations for 365 Universes), ink drawings (also lots, largely book illustrations) and prints (only two - experimental collographs!) are there.
Even in my ordered world I've got work that I'm unsure where it is in the house, or if it is sold, lost, or who has it. Some things I know who has or should have it when I should - like my Family Tree Giraffe made for a Cubby Hole project, Return Ticket To Crewe. One drawing, The Schoolboy from my William Blake book is missing, possibly sold, possibly not. This one item really annoys me. Most artists wouldn't mind at all but I've generally, I think, kept track of every work and where it is.
I took out my stock of unframed work, how happily I can store lots of these! I found a few old paintings that I'd forgotten about (I had catalogued them), incluidng this little study which I thought was pretty enough to keep:
I aslo mourned the many paintings I've destroyed and thrown away over the years.
I've also scanned several paintings which had no images, and added a lot more, about 10 to 15 paintings to my website. I used to shy away from putting everything up, aiming to show only the 'best' work - but now, with the eye of restrospect, even the colour studies and simple paintings are worth seeing, so I will aspire to put more on there.
This is the sort of work that an assistant (or team) would do for a professional artist. I'm lucky to be ordered enough to have planned all of this from the start, but it really does help with creativity too. I can see the patterns of creativity, and the different paths. Today I've been on a trip through my past art life, the past 10 years of so many different events and experiences, from being a wedding watercolour-painter, market stall holder, live demonstrator, prize winner, radio guest and presenter, portrait/wildlife/landscape artist, designer for hire and so much else. I can see how each thing has affected my creativity; what has and hasn't changed.
I also have a free 'room' to add work in a neat and ordered way. This too is an incentive to create, like being given 10 blank canvases and a place to hang them.
Finally, having a clear catalogue allows a long-term professional attitude of retrospect which is a necessary part of being an important artist. Important or not, without a catalogue, any study of an artist is impossible. To some extent, an artist's work is only as good as their entire record. The quality of the Mona Lisa itself would be diminished if we knew anything less of Leonardo da Vinci's life. So it is with all art and all artists.
Mona Lisa aside. I'm keen to paint more and do my best at it. This is the real aim. I'm amazed to think that Picasso produced over 20,000 works of art. I've produced 1,223 since 2004, and it feels like a lot.
