A week of Dark tones….Sepia, Burnt Umber, Olive Green again as I finish the ‘Trees of Brazil’.
The canvas begs each application for deeper,, darker, denser color. I have found it to be ‘murky’ territory. Although the paint application has been energetic and light. the emotions were quite heavy and I was relieved for the soothing Olive.
I feel the color I am using at the time of an insight or emotional transition, can bear a weighty influence on the direction of the experience. Sometimes I have to stop, have a break, work on something else of a different palette, before i can go back and finish what i had started.
I did that a couple of nights ago. I had a break from the darker palette and took to the ‘Loopy’ Triptych with Titanium White and Glaze. Just concealed parts of the pastel ground outright and through a thin veil in other parts.
It was refreshing and neccessary. The paintings need balanced energy to come to fruition too. It is my responsibilty to regulate the self discovery. I think artists may seem selfish at times. For not only needing the time to physically commit to making art but also the side effect residual emotion to process after an elightening session in the studio. I wonder if it is similar to what actors say about intense roles/ characters, being difficult to ‘leave it at the shop’, so to speak!
One day I will take a couple of days, a weekend perhaps and paint through the clock, just to experience where that goes given the time. My work seems to come in short blocks. Usually a session in the studio will be about an hour and a half long. Even without a watch on, it’ll usually work out to that time frame. Enough for a layer on whatever needs it next.
Getting to bed before midnight is important too though as i have become less able to deal with sleep deprivation and it’s effect on everything! Better to have a couple of hours with energy in the studio than to try and push it to do more, at the risk of ruining or losing the creative spark along the way!
The Pastels in the ‘Loopy’ series, are so gentle. They are also very detailed and textured paintings. They have yet to be numbered with the Message Series.
They made a welcome respite in color!