How do I know when my work has enough elements?

When I first started I had a tendency to want to include everything. When things are new you want to play with and show off all your toys. Looking at it now, this might be a necessary part of learning.

There is beauty in purity. For something to ‘say’ something uninterrupted, a journey without unnecessary dead ends.

I realised I have an attitude towards my work that flows with this intent. I am there actively translating, manifesting the emotion and story but soon into the process I begin to see the work as separate from myself. I have no ownership of it. I’m now just there to make sure it ‘says’ what it wants to ‘say’ in the most cohesive way. Guidance.

I remember being at college in art, we had the ‘less is more’ year. Looking at Jim Dine and painting singular objects, I’m not sure what I produced was worth anything but maybe there was a lesson in there. Maybe this is what they were getting at?

Jackson