Janice Mason Steeves

A Quiet Place 2  16x16" Oil/cold wax on paper © 2013 Janice Mason Steeves A few weeks ago,  Rebecca Crowell and I wrote a co-blog post about Visual Language and the Art of Critique.   Later on, I  posted a followup conversation called Writing, Creativity and Critique: A Conversation , with two writer friends of mine:  Kim Echlin and Sandra Campbell , who meet regularly to give feedback and support to each other in their work.  They commented on how crucial this sort of feedback is to them. I received a number of emails in response to both blog posts.  One thing that came up in various ways was a general sense of fear at going through this process.  Perhaps the fear is justified because of harsh feedback from an instructor in the past.  But people also wondered if their work would be honoured for what they were trying to say and if suggestions for change would affect them negatively.  Many feared that putting words to this...

Toronto Workshop 2012 There were many thoughtful comments to the last blog post on the Art of Critique: A Conversation   with my friend Rebecca Crowell.    Several people wondered about the importance of putting words on paintings and if doing so might distract from insights that cannot be captured with words.  One friend wrote today to ask me if there were guidelines to exploring painting in an non-verbal way.  These are great questions. Non-verbal communication is what painting is all about. I fully understand about the difficulty of putting words onto a painting, and the way that they limit.  It must be like translating poetry from one language to another.  Something is lost in the translation. Here are a few non-verbal guidelines I've developed when looking at my own work.  I wouldn't necessarily use all of these when I look at someone else's work.  They are just places where I begin. -First, I feel the piece. How does it ...

Rebecca Crowell and I at the Uragh Stone Circle in County Cork, Ireland 2012 My friend Rebecca Crowell and I have decided to explore the idea of co-blogging: a back and forth conversation about a chosen topic that we conduct via email, and then publish on both blogs. This idea grew out of the habit that Rebecca and I have of sending each other long, frequent emails, which we do mainly because we are good friends with much in common. But in bouncing ideas back and forth, we've also had some enriching and stimulating discussions about our painting processes, teaching, art business and the ups and downs of our art lives. Because this is a new idea for both of us, we are interested to see how our readers respond, and this will help us decide whether to continue co-blogging now and then. Please feel free to comment!  We decided to begin with the topic of Critique, a subject we've both delved into in the past in our individual writing and...