I did this in my studio, “far from the madding crowd”, as it were.  I wondered if one could tell it was the same person who did all the other ones of places and people.  My friend said that of course you could tell it was mine, it just doesn’t have the people.  Interesting how that is.  My interpretation of what she was saying is that my ‘hand’ is there.  One of the things I’m interested in in my work is how my hand is there, or is it there, and what is that hand.   

 One of my friends who came to our most recent open studio said he liked that I experimented and didn’t just do one kind of thing.  The world of art galleries seems to want us to have a brand of sorts, or a consistent style.  What a way not to grow, I say.  He said most artists do different things but only in their studio and he liked that I put them all up for the show.  I’ve always done both but used to switch back and forth so it wouldn’t be confusing for me.  But then when I drew one way, I missed the other so I decided to just do both, partly because I wanted to see if they were related. 

At first it was weird and I couldn’t focus on these abstract ones in my studio, and didn’t invest much in them, but at some point I was invested in both, that is both these and the ones that involve people.  It seemed important to do both as I wonder what the links are between them, and I figure someday they will become apparent, or not, but I finally decided they can exist side by side regardless.