It’s been a couple of weeks since I last painted, and boy does it feel good to get back into it. I find that I am a much happier person if I can just work with my hands for a few hours – even if I am crocheting. There is just something about taking a raw material and working it into an idea – or even just seeing where the raw material takes you just by the nature of the material. Also, my introverted half (when I took that Myers-Briggs test I was an I/ENFP – half introvert and half extrovert, plus the “NFP”. It makes perfect sense if you know me.) really enjoys the solitude and refueling that working alone brings.
This is a detail shot of a new painting I’m working on – which is, of course, on a circular canvas – 30 inches in diameter. I really like to go ahead and get the figure established with the unfinished background so that I can now start working on both at the same time. I have no idea where all the green is going. Some of it will probably be glazed over and pushed more to yellow or blue. I did, however, LOVE what the greens were doing in this painting by William Holman Hunt called “The Light of the World” (oil on canvas over panel, 49 x 23, 1851-53):
This is in a book I own called “The Pre-Raphaelite Dream”, which was the name of an excellent exhibit at the Frist Center in Nashville several years ago. Love those Pre-Raphaelites.
I am also working on something a little more sculptural. In case you didn’t know, I love medieval art (and NO, I do not frequent the Renaissance fairs) – the manuscripts, the pattern, the gold leaf, and yes, even the jewelry – which tended to have circles within circles within circles – as well as other shapes and patterns. I decided to make a larger and simpler version of a medieval brooch that I saw, with the intent of painting some of my typical imagery on it after the construction.
Sooooo… several months ago I went to a place where they make stereos for your car, and asked them if I could have their scrap circles that they cut out for stereos. They were happy to oblige. The image below is a result of me gluing together several of these cutouts and then priming them. I am not sure what to do with it yet…we shall see…
That’s all from the studio as of late!
On another note, I think I have found my first artist to interview. Stay tuned!
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