A little over a year ago, I worked on a 9.5′ x 10.5′ painting. I “finished” it because the studio I was working in became occupied by a film crew. It was too hard to work there alongside them. I’m really a solo painter, it seems. But I was never happy with the painting itself. It felt repetitive, an easy solution to a difficult situation. Here was an opportunity to experiment and I was relying too much on old habits.
The painting taught me a lot: about scale, brush strokes, image, space and time. It also led to some big changes in my painting process in the following year. Working on such a big scale showed me very clearly what I needed to change in how I approached a painting.
Last week I returned to work on this piece. It’s gone through two stages of color, neither blue.
It is close to what I want now. I still have to work on the top part. When you see it in person, it is too dark. The painting feels much more open, expressive, available with its content.
The process has had many surprises. We will see what happens next. . .
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