if you've read stephen king's dumas key then you'll be familiar with the term "unbottling". king uses it in reference to the main character's discovery of his hidden artistic talent late in life. the theory is that artists who bloom late in life tend to be very prolific, generating large volumes of work over a few years. this is in contrast to many younger artists who tend to produce fewer works over a longer period of time.
unbottling came up at lunch yesterday with my friends and ex co-workers. creative director scott said i needed to keep working away at my art as i was unbottling. i do think that there is some truth to this as i have created a lot of originals in the last year. we'll just call it what it is -- an obsession -- and be done with it. but as shannon pointed out (once grandma moses' name came up) "julie's not THAT old, scott". smile!
so, as i promised i would, i googled grandma moses to see if "unbottling" was used in her bio. i learned that she was anna maria robertson moses (september 7, 1860 -- december 13, 1961). she took up painting in her 70's after giving up a career in embroidery because she was suffering from arthritis. her work was exhibited throughout europe and japan and she produced a prolific volume of work during the last 30 years of her life. there was high demand for her art during her lifetime and her works currently hang in numerous art galleries, museums and even in the white house. i did not find the term "unbottling" in any of my searches.
the above work is titled "beautiful world" and she painted it in 1948.
so now that i have that out of my system i'm headed back to the art room to continue unbottling. it is just wonderful to have a term to define what i'm doing. and, scott, just remember that i'm not THAT old.
tomorrow, look for a piece on georgia o'keefe. our little group debated whether she was older and unbottling or not. one more question to put to rest.
4 comments:
hadn't thought about grandma moses in a long time.
I've been doing lots of unbottling lately and it feels great! I didn't realize how unhappy I was in my previous life because I just bottled everything up! Not anymore!
what great discussions you've been having about wonderful women artists! both of them were favorites of my mothers, so it's a great theme for me to read for mother's day.
i, too, am unbottling, but do hope that i find my true talents before i turn 70!
To clarify...I never said you were old. I merely stated artists that start "later in life" - so anytime after 25!
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