Day 188

No painting. Framing, framing, framing. That and clearing up the house after the plasterer finished. Now there's an artist. So compelling to watch a master of his trade at task. I also learned many things about craft, keeping tidy while you work and efficiency. No matter how many miles he paced up on his strap-on stilts skimming the ceiling to a shiny pink luster, it never looked overdone. Hope some of this rubbed off on me. But the best was watching him lay down that first thick layer. Incidentally, he seemed to be equally fascinated by the trowelled peaks in the surface of many of my studies. A kindred spirit perhaps. More of the same framing and clearing tomorrow. Could have maybe managed an hour on something today but was just too knackered to force it.

Day 187

Study: Grapes with Orange
57.5 x 35.5 cm
Oil on Linen over Panel

Decided to give this study another long session of my time today. And though I am posting it in finished format, like the last couple of these linen-over-panel pursuits, it may find itself back on the easel after some time out of sight. Something in the surface seems to yearn for it. Perhaps I can bother my good colleague Tad about that oil and sandpaper thing he mentions from time to time. Sounds nitty and gritty. I have to remember patience, and that I'm not trying to learn how to render what's in front of me, but rather trying to learn balanced a way to work. And it's a long long trip, and at the end of the line there will hopefully have been some painting going on. I can definitely see many more serial attempts at this subject - with the objective of doing it all in one go while the grapes are firm. This is not unthinkable considering this has about 8 hours in it over 5-6 days of on and off attention between distractions. We had a plasterer in today making our water-damaged walls as smooth as a puppy's paw pad - which will make for a quietening of the subconscious. A lessening of agitated line in our midst. I've got about 8 frames to knock-up over the coming days, some for sold paintings and some for this weekend's show, so easel time will be limited. Wonder what will end up on the stand?

Day 186

Study: Grapes with Orange
57.5 x 35.5 cm
Oil on Linen over Panel
(Beginning oil sketch)

After a long week of many none-painting tasks like finally resolving my new website, designing promotional cards for print, organizing framing to be assembled this week and a handful of other things - I finally got a moment with the grapes and orange. I'm not sure how much further I took this in this last session tonking and scraping away as much as I put down. I'm a little frustrated that I can't seem to get a sustained amount of time in order to put it to bed before the grapes lose the magic - making it all that much more tired - and feeling it needs a new start again. I'll make this call tomorrow. There is alot on my plate this week so I hate to scrap and re-start it - with only realistically 2 days max (maybe another half) at the easel. My so-called new approach seems to have become a stab in the dark beginning with each time back after a mini-lapse. And this ain't gonna work. On a brighter note, another painting is going to be heading across the pond and across the wilderness to its new home in Canada. Must rest now.

Day 184

Study: Grapes with Orange
57.5 x 35.5 cm
Oil on Linen over Panel
(Beginning oil sketch)

Still trying to get myself and this study back into the groove with a new bunch of grapes...[Later] Well after a late dinner I came back to this with the intention of spending another hour or two at the most and then getting some much needed sleep. But time got a way again and here I sit typing at 4am. It would have been enough just to get in front of the easel today after too many days distracted by all the other activities non-painting about this painting lark. Much of that is about wrapped up, but the scaffolding is still literally hanging over me for the work on the front of the house. Anyway. The new bunch of grapes I bought today are better within the space than the last and work better, it seems. Just trying to get a grip on the complexity of it for now while testing some colours next to one another. With this oversized viewpoint there are many layers of volume to deal with. The containing space, the middle space, and the space around the each part of the bigger mass. Combine this with directional light, reflected light and transluscent light - and my rusty hands and eye - and I'll likely be right back here at this hour tomorrow. Too dozey to continue.

Day 183

STILL sidetracked, but end is in site as of 2.40am Wednesday. Will I ever paint this week?

Day 182

Still not back to my easel. But had a long day of tortuous non-painting activity to support my painting. The orange and grapes are sitting tight and withering slowly while I flail about up to my ears in website construction. Woe is me. Painting tomorrow come what may. I couldn't possibly handle another day like this especially - with rain.

Day 181

Study: Grapes with Orange
57.5 x 35.5 cm
Oil on Linen over Panel
(Beginning oil sketch)

Well the front of the house is now scaffolded again for the second time in 3 years. Kind of depressing but the repairs I need to do are vital to the fabric of the house, not to mention a way to avoid much more cost in water damage in a chronically maritime climate. While the boys were throwing it up I continued to resolve the remaining issues with the design of my offical website and navigation. Hoping to have this live by the Tile Kiln Studios show. We'll see. Also was able to get up and down the road to pick up some fruit for study. Have been gravitating towards grapes of all kinds now for a while so finally decided to embrace the complexity and see if I can get it work for me in my new explorations. Was only able to get a start on it before going to friends for a lovely dinner and playtime with the precious Isabella. Got straight back into it when I walked through the door without changing - taking a rare chance in white jeans - which seemed to keep everything noticeably restrained. I'm going to enjoy the challenge of the here one minute gone the next light that shines through the plump little edible pebbles. As least that's the official line tonight. For invariably the longer I spend gacking away, and the bunch dries, the quicker the lights will go out like old fashioned bulbs on a Christmas tree.

Day 180

Not a day for painting after all. Had an early appointment followed by breakfast in town and a trip to L. Cornelissen's for some Mars Black (at a generous 50% discount.) Severe vacillation set in upon returning home as to whether to shop for subjects or load up and hit the great outdoors. Clouds came and went and so did the time and spirit. Was able to make some more headway on the website, that's becoming increasingly more necessary as time rolls on. Still have some framing to organise and the little matter of the scaffolders arriving very early tomorrow to provide me the safe means to carry out repairs and refurishment on the front of the house - around the painting of course. A tremendous opportunity to roll-out the ol' multitasking skills in between - uh - walking and chewing gum, that is. Lordy.

Day 179

Study: Peppers with Egg
57.5 x 35.5 cm
Oil on Linen over Panel
(It for now)

The session was more of a race against the deflating flaccid capsaican company than one of real finishing up. The bridge is near. This study has some exciting things going for it in the direct painting arena as well as some fairly strained aspects to it with regard to its natural, more indirect, leaning. The possibilities with the silica, marble and chalk putties are not being optimised alla prima. Even in alla prima over a number of days. As a result of this and my own heavy hands, I lost some of yesterday's verve in the backmost passages but fortunately not forever. So. This will face the wall for a while to stick down and it might get more groping at a later date. Each day, or hour even, at the easel is a walk in time - a reminder of a time when time was, as a wise friend says, "not modern." I can only press on keeping my eyes open to the road signs and try not to run out of gas or find myself lost at sea-of-sand without camel or compass. Newness and juiciness tomorrow. Either a trip to the luscious organic stand or 2-wheeled easel-aslung outing to points as yet unknown.

Day 178

Study: Peppers with Egg
57.5 x 35.5 cm
Oil on Linen over Panel
(In progress...nearly)

Had a good full session on this today but only came closer to finishing it despite my bolder plans. There are some matters of warming the colour up in many areas and cooling it down in others to tie it all together. Also need to set the hovering egg down on the table. The surface quality and nature of strokes - if they can be so called - in this recent approach is still a ways off. Apart from the very red red of the pepper and the green green of the other one, I'm enjoying the pushing and pulling of neutrals but missing the thick paint somewhat. Still anxiously anticipating the next breakthrough in the elusive selectivity involved in how to have both. I guess there's no rushing experience. Could black be joining my palette soon? How very grown-up. Also coming to terms with the idea that things are looking increasingly like they want to go wet-on-dry - or at least wet-on-green 'n grippy. But this will involve having more - even many more - than one piece going at once. And I'm not so sure how I feel about this. I have enough difficulty deciding what to do next as it is without having to choose between a studio full of on-going studies for now. That said, I still need to make several more panels tomorrow and crank things up another full notch. Time to dig in for the autumn. (And there's also a pull to take advantage of some these fresh crisp clear days with some outdoor study. Time to dig out. In. Out. Layers. Black. Waning moon. Sheesh!)

Day 177

Study: Peppers with Egg
57.5 x 35.5 cm
Oil on Linen over Panel
(In progress - detail)

The weekend tasks kept me away from the painting aspect of painting but was able to get partially back to it today. The section of the image (above) that's give me the second-most amount of trouble is the area where all items meet. I've never really been big on focal point preferring light, texture or colour to play this role. But as these are receding downstage giving way to less surface, and colour scheming - it's something to consider going forward. Especially now that it's gotten my attention and I've relayed that to the blog for my regulars to scrutinize and hold me to. But the thing that's been the biggest pain is stripping in an understudy green pepper after the other lost it structural stablility and tumbled over the others nearly clearing the deck. I'll put the last to this tomorrow and move along.

Day 176

Study: Peppers with Egg
57.5 x 35.5 cm
Oil on Linen over Panel
(New Beginning)

When I passed by this oversized chilli yesterday afternoon it stopped me in my tracks. I only had a 20 and not the small change to pay, so the fella said to give it to him next time. That was a good sign. So today it was on the stand (with company.) In beginning these in light and dark value studies with very little colour, both the challenges and the answers provided by colour make their presence known early. In this one, the back-lit nearly kissing noses of the chilli and the egg leave little opportunities for grounding the green pepper at the rear. Highly-charged colour in my old approach would have guided the way. Now I'll be looking to be fairly selective about placement of the purer hues. Why do I never see this type of visual dilema in other painters' un-agitated realism. Hmm. Therein lies food for thought - along with one huge case of omelette on the brain. With the final bits of plastering on our recent rising damp repairs now complete, the weekend is threatening a DIY agenda. And 125-week-old Isabella is back from San Diego to mightily send my serotonin levels right on up into the stratosphere.

Day 175

My plans for the day were sideswiped by the sudden emergence of a wall of non-painting painting stuff. I did reflect quite a bit on the recent study or two and where things are at or going. Spent some time on a sort of meditative walk - instead of cycling - to do errands and peruse fruit stands and flower stalls. Also made a list and printing notes over a pint of Lancaster Bomber bitter. Some panels to prepare before I'm back into the next study tomorrow - which I selected and started setting up this eve.

Day 174

Study: Watermelon with Pears
57.5 x 35.5 cm
Oil on Linen over Panel

Things carried on nicely for a while today and then went not great. This was followed by a sort of abandon towards the home stretch. Because there were a few things about this piece I would probably do differently on another go, I was able to detach myself from the lead role in the process and see what the thing could show me for a change. This stopped me scraping and scrapping it several times until I could eventually get to a place where it felt natural to call it a study. This was affirmed by the watermelon slice having shrivelled by about a third of its original glory - parched, deeper red and not a little crispy at the edges and anywhere that came to a sharp angle or was exposed to air. Again the surface and language of it are slightly on the undernourished side. Some things never change, like knowing full well that the hotter sides of the pears never really get that hot, but despite what my eyes tell me, the music and the knife disagree. As much as I whinge about the struggles of this painting thing, the truth is, the doing of it really is quite compelling and no small privilege. Remembering the bigger picture and how much better I might get down the line - through working, reviewing and moving on - at making sublimely meaningful discoveries is what sustains me. So. Another start tomorrow. More setting up, squeezing out and basically having another go.

Day 173

Study: Watermelon with Pears
57.5 x 35.5 cm
Oil on Linen over Panel
(In progress)

Things are finally taking a turn for the better. A fresh clear sunny day cast a lovely light over the future. After some ground-trembling insight and points for consideration from the giver who keeps on giving - I was hunted down at last by the muses who began to re-introduce me to the possibilities of warm and cool earthtones and neutral vibrance. For years now I've been reading about and looking at paintings that crackle with luminous light and never properly noticed the power of the neutrals - particularly the warmer. A new way (for me) to pump up red and orange without squeezing it out pure and costly. Earthtones (mixed not bought) in my agitated reality. Whodathunkit. Better late than never. Nothing like a breakthrough to bounce me up from the rocky bottom. Only had a few hours on it before a 3-hr seminar this evening dragged me away in the middle of a roll, but feel confident to actually wrap this up tomorrow. As yet the surface quality in terms of movement, structure and expression isn't quite what it can be, nor are the overall spatial relationships. This might take 10 or 20 of these - but not in one study(!) I don't know now what that will be like - but I'm excited about what can be gained along the way, by experiences I wouldn't have known sticking to what I thought I knew. We shall see.

Day 172

Study: Watermelon with Pears
57.5 x 35.5 cm
Oil on Linen over Panel
(More beginnings in progress)

Just laying some colours in trying to get a feel for how to paint again. Trying to gradually work from dark and warm toward cooler light. In general the process feels more like a conscious battle to avoid any kind of techique or formula - rejecting a method - in order to see just what's possible. The drawing start on this is giving me a better foundation than the previous study - but evolving this to a believable world of colour and light is the same old riveting challenge. Someone clever once said it takes about 3 weeks to learn how to paint and a lifetime to learn how to draw. Recently this feels cruelly confusing. Looking forward to finishing this - whatever that is anymore - tomorrow. It should help to do this under similar lighting conditions as when it was started. Have big goals for the week - with an invitation to hang some pieces in an upcoming local exhibition - I can't afford another week like last one. Not if I want to have some fresh new work showing recent progress to put up.