Finally, after many months of play, this work is complete!Each layer requiring some days to dry before the next layers can go down.
I was asked by a client to document the process of layers going down on the canvas. I don't usually show work in stages but thought I would for this one, in the name of sharing. There are often many possible 'stopping points' along the way of constructing a work, some that would have held their own but often I am propelled to keep painting more layers just for the discovery of what might be.
This is one of those paintings. I know there were a couple of points I could have stopped but the intricacy of all these layers can't be reached in a short period of time and once the journey has begun it is so tempting to continue.
I may lose a couple of paintings in the process but a depth of layers can only be reached by continuing and for me, it is often just the play of dark and light that keeps me exploring. Each application bringing with it a new resonance that affects the way all the existing colors read off one another.
Here are some of the stages of the making of this work.
As you can see the orientation of a work can change throughout it's making.
There are a couple of stages I didn't capture along the way, but I hope this gives you a feeling of the trust process involved in each stage leading to the next. The final outcome isn't the product of a vision from the outset as rather a culmination of the footprint of the journey.