2 new paintings 6.29.16

Two new paintings, different approaches. 

The first is on a 20" X 20" X 2" wood panel. The painting wraps around the edges. I worked with acrylic and charcoal and added some paper. There is a bit of sgraffito, too. I might have taken this further, thinking that at this point it was an under-painting, but two artist friends whose opinions I cherish suggested that it was done. My paintings rarely happen that quickly and I was hesitant to trust that is was finished. So I stared at it for another couple of months, and when it didn't come back with wanting anything else I said okay, done. I do like it, but I don't have the same relationship with it that I do others that I've slaved over... like this second one...

This one is 40" square, on paper, acrylic, black and white charcoal, oil and chalk pastel, some collage. I wish I had taken pictures of this one in progress because, boy, did it change. I was painting it for a show called "Take it Outside". At first I thought I was going to do big trees, as I've done before. Then just a line of smaller trees on a ridge. Then a bunch of smaller trees on a bunch of ridges - that stage looked terribly austere and sort of Tibetan...not that I've ever been to Tibet, but it had a mysterious Asian feeling to it. At any rate, it wasn't me. I realized that I was trying to make something sort of representational for this show and my whimsical side was fighting that.

So I gave in to the play and the painting started to be mine.

An interesting sidebar to this painting is that I knew I wanted it to be less Tibet and more my home, West Virginia. While I was painting it the southern part of this state had horrific flooding. People died, homes and businesses were washed away. I didn't put that in the painting intentionally, in fact I had the watery, obscured imagery in it before I heard about the flood. But now I can't see anything else.