Isn't it great how there are no "just another" days... It's all fresh, new, available for use. The creative process is one I've gotten very familiar with. It starts, of course, with a blank canvas. To be able to put one small dot, a half inch line, a splatter of color on a blank canvas and begin a journey thru ideas and effects and color and composition is astounding. I almost never know what I'm going to get. Sometimes there is an idea lurking in there somewhere but I am not fully aware of it most times. Sometimes there's a feeling I have, maybe a need to say something. It starts to come out and then in the process itself it changes and morphs and becomes clearer to me what this particular painting is about. I really love doing different reditions of a theme. That's because I can see the changes no one else can. I can see, especially in the eyes of the ladies, the subtle differences which give the piece its own unique personality. And it is actually fun. I stress about so many little things but the painting process is not one of them. I get to watch something come together in a way many never have. It is most important to keep the tension outside the studio. When I get "tight" I draw lines that are rigid and perculiar. Being loose to sketch and get a composition down in vague images is most important. I can fill in the blanks as I go so I really try to keep everything in the unformed and squiggly universe. Working on the canvas is really a pleasure because I can make gestures and then go over them and define. I can erase, wipe out, clean up and start over. Paper was never so forgiving! I am now working on the "lifting" process. Putting the color down, letting it cure, then cleaning it off...the stain effects on the canvas are very nice to me and they can be re-painted, wiped off again and I get some really neat, distressed, antique looks. Colors become variant in the most timid ways and that's a special nuance of art I just get excited over!
