This is tomorrow (!) and I’ve only just done a painting for the auction, one which had been sketched out a long time ago and now appropriate.
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Slug Past the Post
Managed to nip in the gallery and eradicate ‘The Slug Cloud’ as we have affectionately named it! These were my thoughts on the matter last night:
Progress has waned this week. I still wasn’t proud of it, I certainly wouldn’t want to exhibit it yet, despite the positive remarks. The problem with painting ‘in public’ and, although I’m allowed to paint upstairs at the moment, is that you have witnesses to your painting habits and everyone sees those touch and go decisions being made mid painting, mid
flow, expletive moments of spontaneous mark-making that can go either way when you get carried away, or when you’re maybe testing alternative slants or options and seeing how they develop before eliminating the duffers. Even those ‘just enjoying what the paints do’ periods, painting just for the sake of it.
In spite of the sketches and preliminary paintings, because the painting doesn’t have to resemble anything specific and I’m not painting with photos in front of me, there is less emphasis on looking right or wrong and more time to play and develop by going with what works. Although the composition is in place by this stage, one still tests the ground with unsatisfactory parts of the piece, to see where it could go: after all, you don’t want to mess with the bits you like that work.
The focal point of the painting is crucial. I’ve been in a pre-menstrual, overworked with the business side of things state of delirium! And maybe over-submerged in my work, I literally needed to take a step back. In more ways than one. But a bigger studio would help.
I’ve always known it would have to go: the cloud that has so far resembled a crocodile, a rodent, a whale, but ended up as a huge slug. Pretty colours though!! I’d been working on other areas and avoiding starting the boat. I’ve been too tired in my painting sessions to tackle the important bit – the boat – and the slug has slept and slugged off. Back to slugging the kids round tomorrow, difficult even to dip in and scrape it off, wish it was upstairs at home.
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My afternoon kip was  interrupted by a phone call from someone who had seen my current seascape commission at the studio / gallery requesting to commission one for themselves. Indeed, “worth waking up for”, thanks for calling me on their behalf Linda Love Shack, you know who you are, you’re a star!!
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This painting is set to exist in this young man’s life with a purpose; as a way to remember, in memorial, in memory of his Dad, who died at sea while scuba diving. Painted from the heart and the imagination, the piece is a vision… an ocean… a lovely day, a beautiful place. The painting is becoming the picture to serve its purpose. After the client’s viewing, I could’ve painted all night! But this is where its at. The boat is about to set sail.
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Latest developments to the painting have consisted of the following:
- Dabs of a vivid orange to the clouds, then toned down.
- Adding more cerulean blue to the lower part of the sky to balance the sky with the sea.
- Faffing about with the shapes and positioning of the clouds.
- Testing the inclusion of blue / purple tones that clouds often have when the sun is low in the sky.
- Adding those rolling clouds on the horizon in order to create a sense of distance and as a substitute for land.
I’ve been working late in the studio when I’m into the painting. The problem with this is not just the eating of junk food but the lack of natural light, meaning the painting can look very different the next day. Mind you, it has to look good in both natural and artificial light, as the client will want to admire his painting in the evenings too!
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After some planning with the seascape sketches and the stick-on cloud experiment, I couldn’t ponder any longer. Feeling brave one sunny day, I went for it and set about disturbing that cloudless blue sky. Here’s a photo of those first few marks:
