It’s the end of week one and I want to document how this has gone . It’s amazing really that I now have paintings to sort out and turn into something, when only last week there was nothing.
The diptych was a lot of fun to begin painting . I enjoyed the impact making large shapes and let myself play on a large scale with music on my headphones . The two canvases together make the painting 170 x 140cm so this is larger than I’m used to.
I put together a little video of this because I know that most of this will get covered up.
I love paintings that are sparse like this, that let bare canvas show. but I knew I can get somewhere better if I keep going.
I was thinking about the hard edged shapes and soft edged forms. I used dry brush techniques and diluted the paint with a lot of water in others. I liked small random marks where paint mixed on the canvas. I’m happier with a wider colour palette and remember how I felt bringing in the hard magenta drawn line and the purples and greens.
This is where I am now. I know from experience that I need to fill the whole canvas with colour if I’m to get the result I want in the end. Here, the bright pink you see will get covered up but it might peek through in some small areas. My focus this first week was more on the 6 square paintings.
The six
Beginning. I decided to break this down again into a pair, a three and an odd one .
The first two I began by painting loose blocks of saturated colour
The next 3, I began with large watery areas, staining the canvas and using a large brush and a cloth to move around the paint.
The last painting of the group I only allowed myself to use to wipe off excess paint from my brushes at the end of a painting session. I would work with no fixed intentions .
I chose to begin in different ways as a personal enquiry, because my work often develops by responding to what is already on the surface, i was interested to see these go off in different directions . At this point I’m staying open to where they need to go and am resisting thoughts about what a finished painting might look like.
This week I worked in the studio on a full day Tuesday, a few hours Wednesday and Thursday . Friday was meant to be studio time too but we had a car issue . But luckily I made up for this by painting a little on the Saturday. At the end of the day I took them all outside to look at.
Though at this point some are further along than others I feel satisfied with my progress this week and am looking forward to building on what I have. next week I hope to complete 4 paintings . But I have no idea which ones that will be. First, need to buy more paint.