grey 11 38x38" mixed media on canvas. this is how the painting looks right now; i've decided to do no further work on it..............
11:16 AM: when i entered my studio this morning, i knew grey 11 was an exception. sure, it would gain some of the mystery and painterly qualities of grey 10, and probably make a cool companion piece. but that's not enough. i approached the 38x38" canvas, sitting on my easel, and studied some of the details, like the one you see here, with the faint image of a reproduction of francis bacon's painting of the pope.
do i, i asked myself, really want to permanently disappear these elements of the painting/collage by painting over them, scraping, etc? i at least have to give it a chance. so, because i'm out of 38" stretcher bars, i'll have to do some un-stretching & re-stretching, so that i can take grey 11 off it's masonite-backed stretcher bar, re-stretch it on one without backing & bring it to the house so we can live with it for a few days or weeks and i can make my final decision.
this is what i would call a mature decision. considering i'm prone to quick, sometimes foolhardy decisions when it comes to my work, i give myself a pat on the back today for modifying that tendency.
8:59 AM: i'll head to my studio in about an hour and begin the process i've christened scrobbling, which i love. it allows for the random and concrete to merge in a beautifully messy way. here's an example: a detail from grey 10, 38x38,"my most recent completed grey series painting.
from a january blog post:
*scrumbling: a word i made up to describe the process of loosly applying a wash of off white to the entire surface, and then scraping/rubbing/dragging the palette knife over the surface while it's still wet, 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.