Some holiday time now, and I’m ‘applying’ myself to the painting process. Usually, I feel something like, “What the heck am I going to do today?”
The current small works on MDF board (510mm square) enable me to work on multiple pieces simultaneously (there’s room enough to spread them around the front room so I can watch them without falling over them).
I’m resonating with something Chuck Close is quoted on:
“All the best ideas come out of the process; they come out of the work itself. Things occur to you. If you’re sitting around trying to dream up a great art idea, you can sit there a long time before anything happens.”
It’s taking me a long time to get this.
I’ve tried out a couple of new doings (‘techniques’) today and yesterday. To my surprise, they both have grit (usually, an addition to the repertoire may need persisting with before it becomes useful or is rejected).
One of the doings was to use a very cheap synthetic brush (which I’ve previously only used for mixing paint). This time I used it to ‘dab’ paint (Pointillism style) over and around areas that irked me (for instance, constipated zones in need of brightening, obliterating, etc.). What happened this time was refreshing, new, and exciting.*
*Yes – I’ve mentioned ‘excitement’ before. I do feel excitement is necessary (now and then). Otherwise, the process gets too dull (and I don’t wish to share paintings that I experience this way).