3:51 PM: this is the final stage today….i was briefly considering abandoning the blank canvas on the left and usimg it for something else. but it was so cool to have a fully loaded composition on the right and something so spare on the left, and the challenge with that was to integrate the two somehow. more and more this is reminding me of the recent watercolor/collages i’ve been making. BELOW is an example of what i’m getting at. on the left is watercolor-collage 125 and on the right is the painting i’m currently working on: 2020 creek oil 3. i think this is a clear example of how the watercolor-collage series has impacted the creek oils i’m doing now.
2020 creek oil 3 at the end of my painting day today
3 PM: a new blank canvas has entered the picture, we’ll see if it sticks around…
2020 creek oil 3 -3pm
1:36 PM: this is how the painting looks right now, as i continue work. you can see that some naples yellow reddish has entered the picture, while greenish blue dominates the upper quadrant.thus the yellow on the rock at the right gains more resonance. the marks scraped into the wet paint may or may not continue to exist in my next round, coming up.
a clear progression is taking place. the 125 watercolors i made, starting back in march, led to a series of watercolor/collages, which paved the way for this latest 2020 creek oil series. how i am going about abstracting the always creek-based images is changing. i am freed more and more from the constraints, as i now see them, of local, naturalistic color, where rocks are grey, branches are siena and water is blue.
and now, back to work.
12:56 PM: i left 2020 creek oil 2 and for now am considering it resolved. so i picked up where i left off yesterday with 2020 creek oil 3. these smaller stretcher bars leave a lot to be desired; they are often warped, so i may have to rethink using them in pairs as i’m doing here, since they don’t fit together perfectly. here’s where i’m at after an initial session, but i’m about to make changes, so stay tuned.
2020 creek oil 3 16x40” on two 16x20” stretcher bars this is how it looks at the moment of posting