Sharika Roland

January 16, 2011

Inspired

People usually say that you must have been inspired when you do a really good work. What does inspired mean? You got a good idea, or you were influenced, or what?? How can you be inspired?

Its a trap. Inspiration is nothing more than showing up for work. Do what you do and keep doing it. The best best best paintings I ever did were done when I had nothing left. When I had no idea what to do and I was sort of sick to my stomach that I did not have anything and sort of anxious and weepy and really upset and sleepy and stuck.

When I come to the end of all my great ideas then and only then does something really great get done. Inspired? just the opposite. That is when I find the thing that I am looking for. two seconds before I throw myself off a bridge. So inspiration is kind of a constant suicide to get you out and something bigger than you in.

So when you are upset and cranky, something good is coming. you are just experiencing the death rattle of your ego. It puts up a fight every, every, every day.

January 14, 2011

A Simple Drawing

I was thinking about how people pay big money for a simple drawing that Picasso did. My friend said that it was because it was Picasso and that is all that mattered. I disagree.

When you are an artist you spend your whole life refining your style and when you have refined it to a point that a simple drawing is wonderful, it is wonderful because it has all those years poured into it. There comes a point where whatever you do will have value because of the life that is embedded.

My friend Susan Cowan can do a three-minute drawing that that can take your breath away. In fact she cannot do a bad drawing. Sometimes the drawings are more pure than the finished paintings because they are the essence of the whole thing and are easily absorbed into your brain. Beauty is beauty.

So to make a long idea short: No, it is not just marketing that makes drawings important.

January 14, 2011

Remember Me

Remember Me is a painting that happened because of a look in her eye when I was in the middle of painting. It reminded me of when you think back wistfully about someone that you loved and now they are gone. It is sort of a little pain and sweetness all at the same time. You wonder if they still remember you and the time you had. I was thinking how that feeling is kind of awful and wonderful. at the same time.

This painting is about the past. She is thinking of a long time ago , but it still is fresh. You, everyone has had that experience. sweet and sour at the same time.

January 13, 2011

January Roses

I feel compelled to tell you about the “Roses in January” painting. I did it in a fit of needing to be in a garden and needed to feel the sun on my face and smell the sweet scent of roses.

Deep in January is the coldest time in the world here and the most depressing for me. I have to escape into my work and get what I need there. I need gold and roses and warmth and stunning color to get through this month.

The woman is full and rich and determined and focused on what she needs to be focused on. She is making every wish she has come true . She will get me through this month and this winter . Imagine finding full bloom roses in the snow, Imagine how heavenly they would smell juxtaposed against the cold. Their hot breath melting the snow.

January 11, 2011

the smallest thing

I was working in the studio the other day and this little thing caught my eye. That little thing became a whole painting. Even though I usually start from something bigger than a little fluff and a slight curve of a lip, It is not necessarily better to start more prepared. A little fluff and a shadow became copper girl and I really love her. In fact she might be my favorite of the whole show.

There was this dictionary word for today which was

Autoschediastical aw-toh-SKEE-dee-az-tik-uhl, adjective: Something improvised or extemporized.

When paintings get born from this beginning then it is usually the best work you ever do. Plan Plan Plan. Then don’t plan and just go.