After all these 35 years of showing up at the easel there is still a little fear, a little excitement, and the anticipation of walking with the unknown on a journey we will take together.
There are three distinct working parts to the painting, the beginning, middle (usually messy) and the resolution.
Below are a few just completed paintings with their developmental stages.
A demo based on an evening Asian meal at Komoon in Naples, FL.
Playing around on a messy painting is fun and freeing.... until ........
Reinventing the Still Life (30” x 40") The resolution of this painting very rough and bumpy! It still retains essenses of its beginning. The color relationships are mesmorizing to look at!
The beginning structure.
The middle. I began to imagine seeing people in there!
Life Before (30” x 40”) was painted during the pandemic. What started out looking very much like a floral turned into a mass of abstracted figures like how we could prior to covid safe distancing and no handshakes or hugs.
Still on the Easel
“An artist never knows where he is going. Instead we take leap after leap in the dark.” Agnes de Mille
Someone else said "In order to do something well, we must be willing to do it badly".
I have not forgotten either quote.
This painting began during the pandemic and is built upon two other paintings. Working over old paintings is challenging but exhilarating. The surface is rich with color and structure from previous layers. Sometimes completion can take days, months, and even a few years.
This painting has been against the wall since March. Waiting. The second painting reminded me of our covid circle of friends ( you can see if on the top) but became too calculated and structured. So, I began to paint upside down and in the lower right. Just to see what might happen!
Below are a few resting places before continuing onward.
The middle is where one gropes, seeking answers and enlightenment. It gave a glympse of a wonderful, joyous and sensuous energy.
And so I am continuing. It feels like Love is in the Air. 36" x 36"