A PAINTER’S PROGRESS
This almost feels like a new painting. It even has a new title. I felt that the painting could be rescued but it would need a radical turn of events to pull it round. Anyway, I was determined to see it through and I am now very pleased I did. A well spent Sunday afternoon, the painting is now finished.
Garden with stepping stones. At the end of Day 5.
Felt the need to make a bigger effort today to move the painting forward. The light and the form of the leaves makes a bit more sense and overall the painting is coming together.
You can tell if your losing a grip of a painting if you allude to a particular time of the day and it doesn’t ring true. I still think the ‘early morning’ title still holds.
Garden, early morning. At the end of Day 3.
This is not a good time of the year for painting. It is now Tour de France and we are into the final week, the mountain stages.
I will use this as an excuse until Sunday. After that I will come up with another excuse to explain my low productivity.
Garden, early morning. At the end of Day 2
My preparation consists of some basic props and a vague notion of what I am trying to do. I have never put much time into preparatory sketching.
That’s like setting the sat nav for a drive in the country. I would rather set off and be prepared to get lost for a while, discovering new routes and sites along the way.
Stylistically these pictures may vary over time. I still think I am throwing everything into the mix to see how things fall.
Garden, early morning. At the end of Day 1.
The shortest days painting I have ever had. Completed less than an hour before breakfast. Just needed a few tweaks and now I am happy with it.
Bird in the landscape. Finished.
Taking a dose of my own medicine from yesterday’s preachy sermon I have amended my formulaic titling.
This painting seems to merit the change in title. I am seeing the orange ‘horizon line’ as the top of a garden wall. The green line looks like a formal ( man made) boundary, a lawn edge maybe? It is also a device to create space.
This does notify a shift towards something new, but I think progress will be my usual zig-zag, back and forth routine.
The painting is almost finished.
Bird in the landscape. At the end of Day 3.
If you believe that your art should always be developing then you have to be willing to follow your instincts. Sometimes you have uncertainty that something may not work, but you have to try.
If you believe that what you are doing right now is not the best work you will ever produce then this means your work has to change.
This is all part of the journey. If you know what your work will look like in a years time, then you are just repeating a formula.
Change and the courage to change is what makes art exiting.
Bird in a tree 23. At the end of Day 2.
Despite appearances this painting uses the same species as ‘Bird in a tree 22’. I am having to learn some birds names. Not through any great interest, but if I am googling for this bird, up to now it has been ‘black & white bird’, which is not very specific.
Anyway, promising start.
Bird in a tree 23. At the end of Day 1.
I was in two minds yesterday as to whether the painting was finished. I even posted yesterdays painting to Instagram as a ‘finished’ painting. I looked at it this morning and decided it needed just a bit more work. Its always a difficult call when a painting is so close to being finished. Do you take a chance that you may lose what you have?
Anyway, I have kept yesterdays ‘Day 3.5’ on the website as a comparison. In my view it was worth the extra work and it has a bit more quality.
The painting is now finished.
Bird in a tree 22. At the end of Day 4.
This picture needed a dynamic punch to move it forward. There also needed to be an explanation for the way the bird has been painted. By introducing a strongly defined light it suggests the head of the bird is in the light, whilst the rest is in shadow.
An unexpected thought, and more contentious, is that the strong architectural elements of the flat background suggest a man made environment which is at odds with nature. Its an interesting thought, but just from a formal aspect, I like the treatment of the background.
This painting looks slightly unfinished?, but that has some appeal. I will decide tomorrow.
I decided the bird was too tonal. So I started introducing some off -white, part way through the ‘repainting’ I decided I didn’t want to recolour the whole bird. Now I have an effect that is part painting, part drawing. Anyway, I like the effect, though it needs a little more subtlety to work properly. Comparing it to Day 2, it was the right decision.
Bird in a tree 22. At the end of Day 3.
This bird consists of 2 distinct tones and getting the form and light correct is going to call for a lot of determination and patience. Looking at Day 1 I could see that the dark tone was too blue for the effect I am seeking in this painting. I like the boldness of the green leaves though they are too crude at the moment.
Anyway, the painting is progressing.
Bird in a tree 22. At the end of Day 2.
A painter should never be afraid to take risks with their work. A painter should not take the safe path over the path that is dangerous.
And so for the first time I am using a bird that cannot be found in a British garden.
Where this will take my art I have no idea, but I am sure it will lead to new adventures.
Bird in a tree 22. At the end of Day 1
Once it becomes obvious that you are fiddling around with your painting for no apparent gain then it is time to admit that you are not the master of your craft and the painting is finished. It is this lack of mastery that keeps me going along with the sad realisation that my second ambition to be a concert pianist will have to be sacrificed.
Anyway, the painting is now finished.
Bird in a tree 21. At the end of Day 4.
An exaggerated titling for a weeks absence, but a painters life should never be dull. I’m afraid the global doom and gloom dragged my mood down and left me with no enthusiasm for painting.
If only I could park my emotions at the studio door then months and even years of accumulated time would not have been lost.
No time for tears, I have made my dramatic return, painting has resumed.
Bird in a tree 21. At the end of Day 3.
Never thought I would be so concerned about the expression on a birds face. Getting it right is as elusive as the Mona Lisa’s smile.
Anyway, not a full day but the painting has progressed.
Bird in a tree 21. At the end of Day 2.
My painting has entered an interesting phase (at least as far as I am concerned!).
It has got to the point where I am much more aware of what I am trying to do. What little narrative exists does not change much from painting to painting.
What interests me is fine tuning the abstract elements within the picture. That is the colour of the background, leaves and bird.
I am working as if I was painting abstract pictures and to labour the point I have used the same photo of the bird I used in ‘Bird in a tree 20’.
Anyway, a promising start.
Bird in a tree 21. At the end of Day 1.
This greenfinch was looking distinctly green (ill). The beak naturally gives the finch a grumpy appearance, sometimes this sentiment works in a picture, but on this occasion it didn’t. Anyway, both the finch and myself are happier on Day 4. The picture is now finished.
Bird in a tree 20. At the end of Day 4.
Here’s a quality worth considering. How do you evoke this emotion? I think it evolves from your art, it is too elusive to be manufactured. Some painters actively aim towards it, some steer clear, and some discover it by accident.
I have always been drawn to it but my art has often missed the mark.
I think it has appeared in my best work in the ‘Bird series’ and I get a sense of it in this painting. Rather a pretentious statement to make but I think it is a worthy pursuit.
Bird in a tree 20. At the end of Day 3.
Its sometimes the case that a painting at the end of Day 1 does little to inspire. My paintings seem to creep forward through small colour adjustments. Its like playing a very slow game of chess that you know you can win but the playing of the game is hardly exciting.
Anyway, this painting has nudged forward and will require the same slow and concentrated attention in order to complete it. Much better to focus on this though rather than anything else that is currently happening.
Bird in a tree 20. At the end of Day 2.