Finding the Shapes

 The canvases sit against the studio walls so that I may sit and look at them until I start to see where the shapes are. Sometimes it's a matter of hours, sometimes weeks. I outline the shapes with charcoal.

  

 I used to hate using charcoal, but now I am in love with it. It is so forgiving and makes a mark that is earthy and ethereal at the same time.

Once there are enough shapes I will begin to paint, but for now I am enjoying the search and the quite there is in it.

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.

Still needs something

 So after several layers of colour I am quite happy with what has happened. It still need some tweaking, so I give it a cream coloured wash and apply some plastic film in various areas.

Now it looks like this.

and then,

After several layers the canvas starts to look like this.

Other areas look like this.

At this point I am still not ready to start creating an image. I still want more, of what, I am not sure of, but I know it not quite enough to begin the next phase.

Colour!

While I am thoughtful about the colours I choose to use, I am quite random about their placement. I am interested in the colour relationships. How one looks next to the other. The color mixing when a blue is painted over an orange.

I understand these colors and can usually predict the outcome, but there are always surprises.

I use plastic film to create textures while I am layering the colour. Different films yield different results. Waiting for the paint to dry enough so that I may remove it is torture.

It's messy at this point and isn't very visually stimulating. Sometimes it is just downright ugly!

However, there is always another day.

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.