Uh oh...here we go again

Well, here we go again. I've started another big painting that I'll be bringing to this blog step by step. I've just posted the underpainting, which is the phase where I just let loose and throw some paint down on the canvas and let it do its own thing. My philosophy is that the "truth" of the artist comes out in such random work and I will attempt to honor this truth throughout the painting process. The dynamics established at this stage of the painting will dictate the direction it will take from here on in.

This is an oil painting on canvas, 30 x 30" square. I've got my work cut out for me but I'm excited.

Life is good.

ta daaaaaa

"Evolution" is complete.... ha! As complete as evolution can be! I have found great comfort to let paintings simply "let loose" from inside me, although it is as difficult a process as painting a subject that I have painted many times and know so well .... sometimes even more so. I can only hope that I grew as an artist in the same way that this piece grew as a painting. I would hate to get lost along my path.

Evolution? We humans have it backwards. We think that because we know how to build buildings and cities that we have evolved. While to some extent this is of course true, it is not our own evolution.... we evolve because nature evolves, and we'd best not forget it. At the end of the day, nature trumps man...always.

A bit more progress

Well, I'm moving slowly on this piece but I think I'm making progress. I'm really liking the movement and am trying to do everything I can to honor that and enhance that. I'm now working WITH the painting, not ON it, so we're talking to each other.... hopefully in the same language!!!

Moving along slowly

Well, I've been living with my underpainting for a while now, picking at it and trying to make some sense of it. It wasn't working. I was getting too "nitpicky" and not feeling the dynamics of what I had established with the underpainting. The poem has a beautiful, quiet strength to it yet that's not what I was seeing happening with my work. I don't know that the image seen here is clear enough, but there are some wonderful, peaceful swirls gracing their way through the painting. They were what was important to me when I did the underpainting, yet I was ignoring them once I started to try and put this thing together. Also, I had the reds fighting with the blues, neither dominant so it just created more turmoil. I was frustrated. Showed the piece to a friend and his response was.... quote... "if I lived in Puerto Rico I would come kick your a...." LOLOLOLOL What he meant was I needed to trust my spirit, I think, and let go of what I've done with paintings in the past and let this one take me forward. Sooo..... I went in to the painting seeking some peace. Life is good.