2:10 PM: this is the end of my painting day. i'll clean up and mikela and i will go for our walk up north crestone creek trail. i may bring the painting over to the house to gaze at it this afternoon &tomorrow morning, and see if it needs more work. this is a first. i've never set out to make a collage on canvas with the intention of using it as an underpainting for something else. it seems to meld the mystery of the accisental and unexpected aspects of these abstract collages with representational elements. at the moment, i think they both gain. we'll see.
1:40 pm: the painting is at that point when i become frightened i'll screw it up if i work any more on it, but you simply can't go there! be BOLD, philip!
12:45 pm: indeed,a scrumble has occurred! and there may be more. BE BOLD PHILIP!
8:45 am: stay tuned! I'll be heading to the studio around 10 and have a gander at the new painting...
*scrumbling: a word i made up to describe scraping/rubbing/dragging the palette knife over the surface, then painting back into it. the eye, rather than getting stuck on the details, such as her lips or hat, moves smoothly across the picture plane. there is more choice, more freedom on the part of the viewer to alight here or there. the mind/eye fills in suggested details as it fabricates it's own meanings. one has the capacity to dream more easily, while at the same time being able to notice and appreciate the painterly passages as painterliness.