Critiques. . .Off The Wall Friday

With this whole master class, the subject of critiques has come up.  The deal is that you submit your work three times a month and each time the teacher critiques it.  Now you - as a student - have the option to follow the advice or to go your own path.  Hmmmm - do you listen or don't you?

Here's my take - and let me warn you - OPINION ALERT - feel free to to disagree!

The Rules To Accepting Critiques

•   If you don't want opinions - than don't ask.  Make sure  you actually want to know.
•  Ask the opinion of a person you supposedly trust.  Make sure that person is qualified to give a good critique. 
•  Also ask a person to critique that you agree with their design aesthetic.  (Okay I'll admit it - there are artists out there that are world famous that I think - OMG - who in the world would buy that drivel.  Obviously, I don't get them and probably I wouldn't be a good person to ask for critique of their work. As if they're asking. . . grin)
• Accept the fact that you aren't always going to agree with the opinion - listen anyways
• After reflection, take action.  You might change your work, you might not - you might just remember the critique for your next piece.  You are in control of Your art  - You did not give up the power by asking for a critique
• And Last but its the biggest for me - the critique isn't personal although art is

Once I started following these rules, critiques became breezy-easy.  And to tell you the truth, if I'm being honest with myself - most times I know what they are going to say anyways.

But who wants to be honest with oneself???

As you can see I got the blocking done this week.  OMG - it was a lot of work but worth it.  I ended up having a Tim Gunn moment and told myself to edit it down and Make it Work! The arches were taking over the piece and two distinct pieces were emerging.  With a quick edit that 2/3rds to 1/3rd relationship was achieved and the piece was more pleasing.  I guess they don't call it Golden for nothin'!

Gosh my studio is a mass of green, teal and brown scraps!!  I must be having a love affair with brown this year - I gotta dye up a bunch for the third time in less than a year since I've depleted my stash!

So What have you been up to Creatively??