Joan Mitchell

In May, I went to see the Joan Mitchell exhibition at the Baltimore Museum of Art; this weekend, I went for the second time. Most of Mitchells’ paintings are huge and full of energy, big strokes, and drips.

My favorite works feel deeply exploratory and focused on the process, not the outcome, and are a reminder for me to do the same.

When I am working, I am only aware of the canvas and what it tells me to do… I am certainly not aware of myself. Painting is a way of forgetting oneself.”

When I go to see artwork in person, I crouch and squint and look at it from the side, wanting to see the artist’s process. How did they use their brushes? Which layer did they add first? What is the balance of looser, watery elements and marks made with dry bristles? I took so many photos of details and texture.

I paint from remembered landscapes that I carry with me — and remembered feelings of them, which of course become transformed. I could certainly never mirror nature. I would like more to paint what it leaves me with.

I also loved looking at and comparing the two diptychs below. Both were painted in the same year, and I’m so curious if she created them around the same time. See how the top left both have vertical, solid colors, and the paintings move into smaller and more energetic strokes as she moves right and downwards?