Clouds Full of Meaning

When I was a child I would lie on my back a watch the clouds move a cross the sky. Finding the shapes and watching them change. A fox would become rabbit, a ship would turn into a whale. It was magic.

 I still love to be still and watch the sky, looking for the stories in the clouds. I use this same trick to start my composition. I sit and look at my under painted canvases and search for the story.

Ready to start.

The canvas has been stretched and three coats go titanium buff gesso have been applied. This is the first feathered coat of white gesso. I will do this again and then start applying colour.

Reclaimed!

The stretcher bars have been reclaimed. Four sets have been stretched with new canvas, gessoed and sanded three times, and now they await fresh marks.

My studio smells of gesso, slightly acrid and clean.

Now to dream.

New beginnings.......

The tools of the trade...

a good pair of old scissors...

canvas pliers and a staple gun...

and a large table to work on.

It always takes a few hours for me to complete stretching a few new canvases. In part because I always  have to hunt for more staples! The process is not complicated, but does have quite a few steps and requires a large, clean area to work on.