The trouble with picking up a paintbrush after such a long break is that I don't know what to paint! It started as a little still life - an orange - and it developed into a glass vase with hydrangeas and then it became a sunset over the sea. I was happy with that, so now I must wait a few days for it to dry so that I can do the highlights.
The next decision is what to do with all the paintings I have started and never finished. I'm sure I am not the only person in the world who has unfinished projects in the back of a cupboard or in the outside storeroom. The good thing about painting is that there is no limit to the number of times you can paint over your failures. Sometimes the extra texture leads you to a whole new place of creativity - some of my best work covers three or four earlier attempts.
I am not the only one who re-uses canvases. A very old Dutch painting on the wall in a friend's home reveals, when you stand at the right angle, that a whole section of the picture was painted over as it was completely out of perspective - if the artist had used thicker paint, the underlying layer would have be invisible, but it actually adds to the charm of the painting to know that even top-class artists have a re-think!
But somehow the lure of a fresh white canvas is much more enticing, and probably will lead to something new and original, rather than a rehash of old and stale subject matter. That will have to be the way to go. I'm looking forward to seeing what it turns out to be.
No comments:
Post a Comment