It's never too late.... by Faith Puleston

…to start again, after quite a long break from regular painting activity,
On reflection, I think I wasted a lot of time struggling to carry on doing what had been quite successful for a number of years: abstract or semi-abstract work often featuring fantasy or recognizable creatures. I woke up one day and could no longer paint in that style. I really don’t know what had hit me – it was certainly the opposite of being kissed by the muse.
There followed a long period of dithering, evidence of which can be seen in a few mixed media structural works in my portfolio. I enjoyed messing about with structure pastes, pigments and other elements, but after 5 completed works, the motivation had gone and left me wondering how anyone could just do that kind of stuff without yearning for something at least halfway recognizable, quite apart from the horrendous mess it all made (I had to give up my mess-tolerant studio nearly 5 years ago because of health issues).
That was when I decided to stop attempting abstract works and go back to the figurative artwork with which I set out some 11 years ago, when I started painting on a regular basis.
And that’s where the problems really started. After numerous workshops of various kinds, reading lots of art books, especially on techical themes, visiting lots of wonderful exhibitions, and even putting on 4 solo shows of my own, I realised that I hadn’t even started learning to paint ‘properly’. That sounds rather absurd, but it isn’t, as I discovered when I tried to work systematically rather than on impulse.
But……being impulsive is part of being an artist (of any genre), so my painting barely improved at all, and I would probably have stopped altogether if I hadn’t had such a large collection of art supplies crying out to be used!
A year later I’m still struggling with myself and the elements, but I’m going to post a few works from my cocoon phase. Oil painting is arguably the most tolerant and obliging medium, so most of them are in oils. Some of them are based on exercises picked up at demonstrations by a painter called Herdin Radtke at my local art store. I also attended a two day workshop at his studio. He can be found at www.herdinradtke.com, but his website is unfortunately only in German. He has invited me to translate one of his instruction books into English. Hopefully, he will also decide to have at least some of his web pages translated into English. He invented a method he calls “pomponism” after the village in France where he spends much of his time. Of course, he isn’t the only painter working in the traditional method of oil painting (the one customary long before the impressionists got their hands on the medium), but he is very good at it. A measure of his quality as an artist is the fact that he worked for and with Salvator Dali and that has included renovating works by Dali. Herdin is a surrealist by instinct, but a big-hearted practician anxious to divulge what he knows. Do go to his website and look at his paintings.
So that brings me to the present, still battling with the elements, older and maybe just a little wiser, but under no illusion about my own status as an artist. However, if to travel is (still) better than to arrive, then I might just be on the right track after all.