1/5/20 gouache/collage 18 3/4 x 8 3/4”
2:30 PM: we have dinner guests tonight, so I made my ever improving brownies with walnuts before getting to work on a new gouache/collage. I think i’m being successful in keeping stress to my shoulder to a minimum with this new series of small (this one is 18 3/4 x 8 3/4”) gouache/collages. they are introducing a next stage aesthetic to my abstracted, painterly visions of the rock & water originally created painting plein air at the creek over more than a decade. lessons learned during my sound of a flute, taiga inspired series enter the picture as well. i’d say I am now always attuned to his unique way of observing and dividing up space into a river of lively, intelligent, musical marks.
the dark rock in the center, by the way, is a collaged cutout piece of paper palette saved from an oil painting I was doing sometime in the past 5 years.
fortunately, a few months ago when we were in the midst of cleaning up following the flood in my studio, mikela found a pile of foam core surfaces and another pile of arches paper. she suggested I cut the paper to the size of the boards & tape the sides, so that i’d have a bunch of gouache surfaces ready to go. so that’s what i’m using now, and when they run out, and if i’m still in the mood for this series, i’ll create more surfaces. it feels like a great luxury, not having each day to prepare a new surface, and to be able to simply choose one & start working. once I’m able to get back to painting in oil on canvas, I may try implementing that solution. i’d have to spend a couple of days just stretching canvases, but then i’d have a number to choose from & i’d be able to pick a size & shape & jump right in.