yesterday’s and today’s creek oils side by side. yesterday’s, on the left, measures 60 x 26 in. and today’s is 78 x 26 in.
both of these paintings have a number of layers, both of oil paint and collaged papers. they’ve been extensively scraped with a large palette knife and, in the case of the one on the right, sanded with a fine sandpaper to remove some wrinkles in a large piece of paper i collaged imperfectly. never did that before. it naturally created lots of dust, and also allowed me to tear off strips of the collaged white paper in a way that actually contributed to the texture of the surface.
you may discern that i’ve been looking at and learning a lot from matisse lately. i’m finding him less bound in time than the others of that peiod, which i love. timelessness is the way to go! all indigenous cultures knew that. the mayoruna, for example carried time with them and had no concept at all of past and present.
DETAIL
2:37 PM: I took it a few steps further, adding that black stripe on the right, which I kind of like. and I also like that the stooping red haired girl, because of the spirts of grass around her back, it looks like she has wings like an angel. so the relationship of the two is open to interpretation. but now that i’m looking at it, the stooping female figure could also be seen as a galloping horse! the head is on the upper left, the body & legs below.
I think i’ll call it a day.
as always, I can’t really evaluate what I did till tomorrow morning when I enter the studio after our trail walk. i’m aware i’ve said this before, but I think something fresh is emerging, incorporating elements of paths i’ve travelled down before and continuing to integrate the creeks-scape with the human figure viewed from above.
but, as many other artists have said, the essence of what I do can’t be evoked by words. it’s in the painting.
12:17 PM: I picked up where I left off yesterday, re-working 6/10/2021 creek oil. 2 figures viewed from above have appeared. one, the string fellow with the black sweater over his shoulders, is larger in this painting. the second has never appeared before, she is a loosely defined girl with red hair, bending to pick something out of the green grass at her feet.
BELOW: yesterday’s version of the left, and on the right the painting as it looked moments ago, after this morning’s work/play
I think I may continue on this one for a while, so i’ll post any updates when available.
