ABSTRACT PAINTING IN THE WINTER STUDIO
This year the winter studio consists of a long, 15 inch deep shelf under the biggest windows on one side of the living room and a small shelf unit that we built to hold the art supplies. When I'm not working of the flat surface, I use a wooden table easel.
At this point I have no idea or design in mind. I'm just applying a thin layer of color randomly and waiting to see where that takes me.
So far it doesn't seem to be going much of anywhere.
I kept at it another day and then began to work in some indications of the placement of various trees and garden decor out the window. Even that didn't really go anywhere.
Each day I try something a bit different but it just doesn't feel right yet.
I apply paint with my hands, brushes, knives and any number of other things then change my mind and wipe it off.
The canvas isn't going anywhere but continuing to work on it takes me though a range of emotions until I fall into a beautiful sleep.
It may not help the canvas but it sure helps me.
For a while I was starting to paint some of the things outside my window and then I went inside myself and focused on colors and the feel of the paint, this is always where my paintings begin to get interesting.
Each time I'm in my wheelchair and can get around the room I add a bit more paint. At this point I just grab tubes at random hoping to be surprised by new color combinations. I breathe more deeply and become calmer, it really is the best medicine for me.
The painting itself doesn't seem to be going anywhere in particular but I do Like the surface that's building up on it as I continue to add and remove paint.
At this point I'm mainly using my hands and an assortment of painting knives to build texture and contrast. It shouldn't be long before this new painting begins to turn a corner.
It's hard to tell if it's getting better or worse but I'm enjoying the process and stripping away my tendency to make all my backgrounds more or less blue.
It will be interesting to see what happens next.
I'm beginning to love the texture that's building and the softening color mix.
Everyone is enjoying the painting these days and like looking at clouds, telling me what or who they see in it.
Today I had company and invited everyone to put their own touch on it but got no takers. It's mid October now and I think I'll be working on this one for a long time.
Things began to take an interesting turn when I found some old drawings I'd done in the 1980's and 90's and decided to add them.
At first they just sat on the top but then the canvas seemed to pull them in as they began to be swallowed by a number of blobs and streaks of paint.
I did many of these drawings on postcards while sitting in the Byerly's restaurant starting in the 1970's or 80's and on into the first few years for the 1990's. The waitresses were wonderful and often complimented me on my work.
The coffee was good and I loved the fresh flowers on the table so I often left the drawing's along with the tip. Eventually the girls had a gallery wall of sorts with the drawings taped up in their stations. The highlight of these years was when one of the girls asked me to design a tatoo for her. How nice that she wanted a permanent bracelet of my vines and flowers. What a great and fun time we had. I sure miss them.
After I added the drawing the painting seemed to be more or less swallowed in the paint.
I added more leaves and detail to the baby's breath flowers in paint.
I've added a few other things to my drawings on this painting. It's getting to be a bit more fun all of the time.
I love the way the left side of the canvas looks now and look at it as a way to include some of the styles of folk painting that I'm learning along with all of the different ways that I've painted over the last half century.
In a way I'm taking all of the bits of art that are a part of me, stirring them all together and seeing what will rise to the surface. It's a very exciting part of my journey and I can't wait to see where it takes me next.
I love the way this little paisley design turned out.
As you can see, the parts I added are beginning to settle in and work with the rest of the painting. It's an exciting development, don't you think so?
Here's a close up few of some flowers I added and then painted over a few days later.
I also shot these other detail views before painting over them.
I loved the way the colors were developing here. But the whole painting wasn't coming together so I decided to work from one of my garden photos of Iris.
I was finally getting frustrated with all of the false starts on this canvas so I decided to work with one of my garden photos on top of it all taking advantage of all of that texture to make the grassy background more interesting.
At this point I realized that the flowers were the wrong color and decided to mix some of the right colors.
October 25 th
I decided to make another start at an Iris painting trying harder to concentrate on getting the shapes of the flowers right before I even consider how to mix the right colors for them.
Taking another look at the photo.
Halloween 2019
I've been working on this canvas for quite a while now and feel that if I can get the Iris to look or feel right the rest of the painting will just fall together.
Since I have so little space to work with in here the easel is in front of the window which makes the painting both difficult to work on and difficult to photograph.
At this point I'm attempting to get just the light shade somewhere between blue and lavender to remind me of the years I had these iris. It's got a long way to go at this point.
The Finished Painting
Still trying to get a good photo of it in different lighting situations.
All of the texture and different types of paint make that difficult but it's great to see or touch in person.
One of my Grandmothers was blind and used to comment how satisfying my paintings were because even if you could't see what it looked like, you could tell what it was by the way it felt.
