A Tangle (Finding God 1)

I get tangled up in process more than once while painting this canvas.

Then when I complete the piece, the tangle is precisely where I find God.

God Shows Up in a Tangle of Meadow
(after 60 days!)
30 x 40"; acrylic, pencil, oil pastel, ink, latex, and collage on canvas
abstract floral
2020

in situ

---

tickler file: humble beginnings

day 1

day 1, detail

Bypassing "Ready, Set"

My attention span, activities, emotions, energy level, perspective, ability to focus: all scattershot these days.

And, by "these days" I don't just mean the past few weeks, I mean the past four months.

Looks like that's what's mine to work with. So that's what I work with!

When I returned from Virginia mid-February I was chomping at the bit to put a big ol' canvas on my easel and paint with broad strokes and bold movement. I work tiny and on paper way more typically than tremendous on canvas but I wanted L A R G E. I was so impatient I didn't even finish unwrapping the plastic from the canvas before grabbing paint and brush.

first pass on new canvas, 2/21/20

detail, first pass on new canvas, 2/21/20

Sketchbook

I love looking through artists' sketchbooks. I'm intrigued by the many ways artists use them as part of their creative practice.

Off and on, I think about starting a sketchbook of my own.

But I never bring action to intention.

Today, I looked at Core Values, my huge sheet of foam core with its grid format, and saw it for what it is.

A sketchbook!

newest patch painted onto grid-format work-in-progress

underpainting for today's patch

offloaded paint from today's patch

detail from today's patch

today's patch as seen in the context
of the whole work in progress;
working title: Core Values 

   

Messy-Messy

I love watching youtube clips of artists at work, though I have yet to film any video footage of my own. My friend Simone has shot footage, however, and the gift of getting to spend virtual time in her studio watching her create infused my own creating today. I painted quickly and intuitively, with happy messy-messy freedom.

newest (4-)patch painted onto grid-format work-in-progress

detail from today's patch

today's patch as seen in the context
of the whole work in progress;
working title: Core Values 

This and That

Some of the this-and-that to which I referred yesterday:

New Project

With my new bookmarks completed (and one already in use—yay!), I've moved from a 'canvas' of 9 square inches back to the huge foam core 'canvas' of 1,728 square inches on which I first put marks a few weeks ago.

I've now added a thin slapdash coat of gesso, penciled off a grid of 6-inch squares and various rectangles, affixed tissue and magazine collage randomly, and set up for myself a big playground.

I don't have any particular outcome in mind at this point. Instead, I'm thinking of this foam core as a blackboard (whiteboard), an 'erasable' space where I can follow my nose to try out this or that.

foam core playground
(challenging outdoor lighting)

---

---

Update on my Valentine/birthday hearts grid for Dave  : )

A Leap Between Our Hearts Like Fire in Dry Grass

6x6"; acrylic, collage, India ink, and pastel on gessobord

abstract
2018
[gift]