A Painting Interupted.

Circumstances prevailed in my life yesterday as they do in all of our lives. I began diligently going through the process of painting. A new canvas, bright, fresh and clean, ready for some interaction and creation. I decided to leave the brushes aside and go for it. I chose a mixture of colours all in the one range. I had, Burn Umber, Sienna Light, Yellow Ochre, Lemon Yellow and later I opened some Cadmium Yellow. With a little water to keep my hands wet I started at the bottom of the canvas with the darker colours and working my way up to the lighter ones I covered the canvas. I did not use the yellow. I stepped back and looked at it and with my fingernail scrapped out some of the darker areas using strokes. I left it to dry.


Now this is how haphazard my art can be. I set it where I could see it in the light and asked it to speak to me, as I savoured a coffee. It said sun and laughter. It said bright days and carefree moments. I added a covering of matt acrylic gel. This dulled it slightly but what was there was now sealed. I will not tell you at this stage what I was thinking. The burnt umber had spread a bit on my slate. I took the top on a paint pot and dipped it into this brown umber and made some random circles on the canvas. At this stage I so wished I had chosen a larger canvas. Into these circles I added some gel mixed with small gel balls to add texture. I roughed it up by dabbing my finger in it. Then again with my finger I added petals round each of the circles. Yes sorry just another flower picture. I left this to dry. For whatever reason it seemed to take forever to dry so I decided to head off and go for an afternoon swim at the pool.

At this point circumstances took over. For family reasons I had to leave the pool and go attend to my family. The painting was left. While in my pjs I painted the petals with the yellow.

Will I finish this or not? Who knows? Today I do not I have not visited it but I will after I have posted this blog. My thinking is of another of the words I have in my collection of art words.

TRUST

Without trust there is no peace or sense of being at one. Without trust there is only fear and uncertainty and a sense of insecurity. Trust and only good will happen. Trust in the inner person the inner you and you will find it bubble forth. It is all in the hands of the artist. I am sure, I trust. What will happen? Only one thing can happen, if there is trust I will do what is right. I will re-establish the bond between this art and me. Then no matter what happens I will be at peace because I have given myself to the inner chi called art. I will surrender to something bigger than myself.



Just a few words of thought but I have a feeling an old friend is waiting for me downstairs. I hear it call. I will let you know the outcome and if anybody at all is interested the next steps. What I have described is for me a method a way and trust me it works.

New Painting a Work in Progess Looking for Comments

This is a painting I have been working on for the biggest part of today. I am kind of at a loss about what might be my next step with it. If you read this blog and have any comments I would be most grateful.

I was surprised by the number of friends who took the time to get in touch with me about yesterdays work in progress. The general opinion seemed to be that I should leave well alone and know when to stop. Strange that I had given just this advice to somebody else yesterday and here I am today reporting that I listened and in my usual way decided just to make a couple of small additions. I added some highlights in lemon yellow and some darker areas hinting at stamens. I am not a great lover of paintings of flowers yet I find myself doing them from time to time. I have thing about poppies also so find myself captivated by flowers that get caught in the breeze. I added a clear glaze and then decided to just darken the lemon yellow in one or two spots. I am sure those who have been good enough to comment will say I have gone the step too far.

For those interested, and I am always surprised to find out how many seem to be, the painting is on a box canvas measuring 16”x20”. The “stems” were made with cut up pieces of string , the “heads” with modelling paste. The painting was then covered in colour using wet hands and left to dry. A clear acrylic gel glaze was then put on again using hands, a messy job but a feeling of involvement. Once dry another glaze this time of white with a hint of yellow was applied and washed back off some of the areas. A further gel glaze was added and left to dry. the “brush” a the bottom was put in with burnt umber and a hint of purple. Then the highlights were added and in some areas the petals darkened.

I wonder have I ruined it or have I finished it? We can but wait and see. Might I thank all those that have commented. both here and privately.

A Painting that painted itself.

Every so often it happens the paint takes control and I end up with something very different from where I began. Yesterday was one such occasion. I was painting a landscape and at one point I was un happy so I removed as much of the paint as I could. The remaining paint shouted at me. At least one part of it did, this I added more paint to trying to leave it as it was as much as possible. Now I could see what I wanted to do with the rest. I kind of like the end result, not sure anybody else will but I do.