3:28 PM: bleary eyed and happy, i end my painting day. while it is, as yet, unresolved as a painting, the image has re-emerged from the maze of collaged elements i attached this morning with a fresh vibrancy.
unplanned, unexpected shapes have appeared, and this is one of the aspects i love most about the kind of collaging i've developed. it provides a new, present time context for this 1st century visage, with her soulful gaze. i can't emphasize enough how many strands of my life as a painter are coming into play in this series. and i've finally begun to accept the fact that, like it or not, i am stubbornly attached to form & literal meaning in a way that feels almost like an addiction.
so every morning when i enter my studio, i come face to face with that habit. thank god i delight in breaking it, in roughly the same way i delighted in breaking the rules in grade school. an artist whose work has become predictable is boring. the history of art is littered with them.
onwards! to be continued tomorrow morning, hopefully a tad earlier!
2:12 PM: the newly collaged elements have practically obliterated the image. the resulting new colors: a bold blue and pink, have suddenly changed the game. now i think i'll go back in with my brushes and see where it takes me.
11:15 am: bit of a late start today. i'm thinking i may do some collaging on gaze 34 before resuming work with my fan brushes. BELOW: a detail of gaze 34 with a pic of a very early stage of the painting on oct. 8th:
