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Anne Mavor

5633 Northeast 48th Avenue
Portland, OR, 97218
503-367-6136
paintings • installations • writing

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Anne Mavor

  • Home
  • Blog
  • I Am My White Ancestors
    • Project Description
    • Self-Portraits
    • Audio Diaries
    • Accordion Book
    • Essay "Looking While White"
    • Interview with Anne Mavor
    • What People are Saying
    • Who we are
  • About me
    • Early Work
    • Mounds and Stones
    • Statement and Values
    • Bio
    • Resume
    • Events and Exhibitions
  • Contact

I Love Making Mistakes

January 8, 2015 Anne Mavor

So I am trying to imbed this idea of not thinking that mistakes are the end of the world into my stubborn brain. I've heard of it, you've heard of it, it's in all the lists of how to be a creative and successful whatever, entrepreneur, inventor, maybe even scientist. Mistakes are expected to happen, will happen, are mandatory even. If there are no mistakes happening, you are just paddling in the shallow end, not diving into the deep end where new ideas live.

These days, I feel terrified daily that I am making mistakes. Each time I ask for help to fund I Am My White Ancestors, I am gripped by fear that I have done it wrong and have lost that person forever. Of course I don't want to loose him or her. I am only asking for money, not their first born child. They can say no. But what if. . . I LOVE MAKING MISTAKES!

It's a good thing I am committed to doing the project. Otherwise I might quit. The project is wide ranging and involves multiple phases, skills, tasks, and people. The mistakes I make are big, interpersonal, and messy. They are not where to put a shape or color. Right now that kind of mistake seems silly and pathetic. But give me a couple of months and I will feel them, too, when I design and paint the backgrounds for the portraits.

In I am my white ancestors, My Art Process Tags Anne Mavor
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Playing with Scale

September 12, 2014 Anne Mavor
Two miniature paintings in the sun. Walnut ink on encaustic medium.

Two miniature paintings in the sun. Walnut ink on encaustic medium.

I am enjoying my temporary guest room studio. I like the chaos of bubble wrapped paintings stacked randomly on boxes and bins. I like the two cats sprawled on couch and box, competing for territory. I like my small table where every inch is valuable and shifting items has become an art. I like peeking through the open door at my tennis obsessed husband cheering match after match. I mostly like the new intimacy of my new work. At 5" x 10" they are the smallest paintings ever. They are so small I had to go buy a really tiny brush to get enough detail.

In addition to allowing me to paint in a limited work space, these new works have made me think about expansion and contraction of size and scale. The scenes in the paintings are massive and monumental, yet the actual size of the work is miniature. How much information can a small painting contain?  This experiment is making me take more care since there is limited space to communicate. How can I increase the subtly and amount of information held in each brush stroke or form? When does the palm of our hand become an entire world or universe?  On the other side, once I am in my new studio, I want to experiment with large paintings and see what that will do to my mind.

In My Art Process Tags Sillbury Hill
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Finding my way back through the forest

March 29, 2014 Anne Mavor

Finding my way back through the forest

Blogpost about returning to a painting I had given up on.

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In My Art Process Tags Highfield Hall, Anne Mavor
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Working and Persistence

March 1, 2014 Anne Mavor

Artists and others. How do you work? What happens when you reach an obstacle? Do you give up completely, knuckle down and blast through it, get help, or maybe set it aside and hope for inspiration another day? How persistent are you? Blogpost about changing my artmaking process.

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In My Art Process Tags Anne Mavor
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Painting Stones

February 2, 2014 Anne Mavor

Blogpost about the process of painting stones. What gives a stone its stoneness? How can I portray that in paint in a way that honors its integrity and individualism?

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In My Art Process Tags Anne Mavor, stones
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Studio: 5633 NE 48th Ave, Portland, OR 97218                       anne (at) annemavor.com                         503-367-6136

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