You're An Amalgamation, on Clouds, Fruit and Flowers

Four oil studies on unstretched canvas and @moleskine 👨‍🎨: 1.☁️2.🍏3.🥀4.🍋.
.
“A painter can say all she wants to with fruit, or flowers, or even clouds.”-E.Manet
.
I have a lot to say. I definitely think there’s a touch of darkness to my work most of the time, and sometimes I wonder if people find this to mean I’m somewhat of a dark person? Truth be told, I’m still learning my own painting language, and I think that’s probably evident in that I haven’t assigned any particular style to my work. I work in acrylic and oils and treat each medium quite differently.
.
Inventing a style is a great way to come up with an inauthentic body of work. I think it’s better to just work a lot and not think about style. Just work and grow and see what emerges. You won’t see it in 10 or 20 pieces. You’ll start to see the threads of your own work in maybe 50 or hell, 500 pieces.
Talk to any artist and I’m sure they will not be able to tell you how to do it. One will do it one way, another does it this other way.... you need to find your own way.
And some of their elements will become part of your own but in a different order.
.
Philip Guston says that when he starts a painting he feels the presence of all the painters through history that influenced him and when he starts a painting all of them are kind of looking over his shoulder and one by one they leave the room as he paints, until all that’s left is him.
.
You’re an amalgamation of your experiences that come together in such a way there’s no one else in the world like you. Be yourself, just do your friggin work, that’s where the authentic painting will come from.