4/22/07 Day 3
Today everything worked out better. I did a drawing I kind of liked and felt a lot more relaxed doing it.
Then I tackled the paintings, and these, too, seemed to come more easily. What is it that changed?
I rarely know, when looking at a canvas, exactly what is needed to make it work. After I stare long enough, I may get an inkling of something to try, but until I actually apply the paint to the canvas and see what happens, I don't know for sure.
It is only at the end that "one more thing is needed" to complete the image. Typically many things are needed, and I'm looking for something to do that will get the process started. When the process is going well, I move from one color or brush stroke to the next without stopping, seeing right away what is required.
Sometimes I think it's a matter of getting out of one's head. If I have to think about the technique I am using, to think about it in words, that is, then I lose it.
One thing that is going on with the two paintings I'm working on now is that they are "overall" or "patterened." But I've been resisting that kind of composition, wanting something stronger. Perhaps it was my resistance that blocked my knowledge of how to paint. I kept trying to turn these canvases into something they weren't.
I'll see what I think of them tomorrow.
(Note: There is a gap between the dates I'm writing and posting because I had to give myself time to get ahead in case we travel and I'm not able to post.)
