I’ve been traveling through painting, lately. Doing a lot of things I haven’t done much before, like take a week to finish a painting, let layers dry and having a fresh take on it the next day, stretching the canvas myself before starting, etc.
Even my methods are changing a little. I am trying out single stroke techniques and realizing that I create my shapes crudely, and inefficiently. I want to learn actual brush strokes and what shaped brushes are good for what shaped strokes. I’d like to get cleaner and more efficient with my techniques so my painting takes less stress, and I can sell for more affordable prices.
The observance, too, that’s also changing. For instance, I recognized today that I have no lengthily plans for most of my work. I take it layer by layer, and now day by day, and only when I get the sense that it’s done does the depth emerge for me. Like this one for instance:
[singlepic id=3553 w=550 float=center]
Until I had taken a picture of this on my phone and let it be for a couple of days, seeing how I felt when I looked at it, in my mind the painting was two-dimensional. Even then it took a couple of days before the underwater sense really got me, and I saw the perspective of sinking while looking up at the surface. I’m even getting the significance of the fact that none of the bubbles are mine, and take it to mean that I am still holding my breath and haven’t let go yet.
Something I don’t know a lot about has a big hand in how I create this stuff. Never more profoundly do I sense that I don’t know much about art, than when I am most embodied in my artistry. It can be hard to take the credit. Maybe that’s why I’m so weirdly avoidant of succeeding at it.
But I’m gonna give it my best shot, anyway. Check out what the hallway to my room currently looks like:
[singlepic id=3554 w=450 float=center]
At the very least, I can sell canvases to other artists for a living. 😛