Like a Prayer 2 panel 24 inches by 8 feet:

It is not hard to let go. There was an interviewer asking a artist about selling her art and if it was hard to let them go, and she said it was, but she did sell them.  This artist sees that also, but not like that example, or like Rothko who found it hard to let his work go.  This artist just lets it go sold or not.

When a work is finished, after weeks and many, many hours of effort, when the work sends the message that it is ready to move it, this artist does just that.  And the artwork is then begins to be view entirely differently: the painting is signed on the back. photographed and most likely leaned up against a studio wall.  It is left in the studio for a while especially through at less one or more new paintings.

It is there to compare and set a standard for the next work. It is there to scare the hell out of the artist.  It is there to challenge, the next work to who is better.  It is there to push and force the artist to not repeat and to tweak the direction just to prove that there is still room to grow.

One thing that is  surprising, when visiting pass works, is that the name of the artwork is sometimes forgotten.  Seeing an artwork , whose name and the music is unknown, puts the artist in the same situation that a first time visitor viewing the artwork from a distance would have: does it attract, is there a curiosity that brings them forward to find the name of the work?  Does the work, work?

Like a Prayer is near completion, and should be finished sometime this weekend.  There has been a change in thinking in that the backgrounds need to be more aggressive.  For example, looking a Prayer the broad middle mostly Phthalo Green, looks to smooth, and lacks variety. It is not sure what can be done with this current work, anymore, but the next work will try to experiment more with contrasts and colors.  The problem is making the background interesting and not hurting the drama for the music as it flows.  For now, prayer does stand out from it companion paintings, Thunder Road and Hallelujah, and that is good for now.  The scribble of the ties works well with this work and the new added dimension of making a tie possible spell out a word add greatly to this work. This idea will surely be used in the future when it works. There is still work to be done with the background and the three eighth notes, and the there is some doubts about the stems and the red outlines.  This work obviously is not ready to let go.

Scott Von Holzen