Again, I trace the making of artworks hoping to find out why
Thinking of the way light refracts through branches and makes kind-of trapezoid shapes between them. As underpainting its an almost buried detail but I feel it comes through
I love these shapes
I bought this shirt in Rome and wear it weekly
These pines are something else, the shapes seem prehistoric, blunt and primal, but the energy inherent in projecting so assertively into the world and reach ever upwards is jarring, like a whole conversation between stasis and propulsion. Movement and watchful stillness. So solid yet still letting the light in
Present day
Present day, I have to clean up the background and finish the painting.
This is what I do: get it to a point where I think its pretty good, then push it over to ruin, then see if I can bring it back. That doesn’t always work out
I dug pretty hard into the dried paint on this, which took the surface back to raw wood in places. Fixing that will change the whole thing due to the mica pigment I mixed into in the background paint, which is very difficult to touch-up successfully. It will change and become something more, maybe
But I have to break it or it won’t have spirit
Ancient Roman tools for decorating terracotta
Looking at the above images, there’s a scrap of tissue on top right which is where I grab the board to swing it down horizontal where I can work on it. Its a big board I had made specially in a heavier Birch ply, to support the application of ornaments.
I have some lovely cast bronze nails to hammer those ornaments home but I’m getting a lot of feedback to not apply them at all. I’m a little stuck. Beyond ruining the painting, God has not communicated how I am to proceed so I wait and time stretches on, which in this way becomes an actual component in the work: time. I may make more pines paintings like this and see how they differentiate because I’m crazy and you never know what I’ll do next
Very spikey when you cut them
I do like working on things horizontally, like sculpture. I am compelled in a way I do not understand to break the 2D into 3. Over the edge and into the third dimension.
Study
Replaced an old, very niche specialist paintbrush - which has been trimmed down a few too many times - from Melbourne Etching Supplies and, got two. Which explains me completely.
Paprika shrub at Continental Deli, which has become somewhat favoritised
In addition to painting this and other surfaces, I undertook a range of activities in various locations over the last three months. I have felt ambivalent and non-compliant regarding posting because I just wanted to do the work and be entertained by the range and locations, but tracking the artmaking process here the reason for this website, because that is important to me and itself part of the process. I’ll post later on recreation which is helpful for me remembering stuff
Panna cotta every time at the above mentioned. They crystallise flowers for decoration but you can eat them
See you next time