“[If] you’re interested in having us appreciate and understand what you’re up to, you better make it in ways that give us a fighting chance to figure it out. …
“Now the easiest way to do that is to work in series — to create unified, cohesive, coherent, related bodies of work. Many artists aren’t fully aware of the advantages to creating multiple works of art around the same idea, theme, philosophy, concept, topic or subject matter. Instead they produce what I call ‘onesies.'”
— Alan Bamberger, Reasons for Artists to Make Art in Series
One painting leads to another, and another, and another, I find when pursuing an idea. What if this and what if that? What if I used that blue rather than this blue as the mother colour? How the Minch (stretch of sea between Skye and the Outer Hebrides) looks like on sunny or snow-showers, day, calm or gale-force day,? midsummer or full moon night. I could paint the view directly across the Minch from my studio for the rest of my life (and hope to!) and never use up the inspiration.
I love it, Marion! Good reminder and so true!
I was looking at Monet’s paintings chronologically on WikiArt and it’s notable that as he progresses he increasingly paints a subject several times whereas earlier he jumps from one thing to another.