one week later...

The exhibition opening was wonderful, with quite a few people from various walks of life stopping by.  There were some thoughtful responses to the work, and I had a good conversation with Mike Binzer, the other featured artist.

And then - Wheeee!!! - I got back into my studio!  It seems that in the studio I think with my hands, and my hands were feeling a bit rusty after a long break from painting.

So I began at random with this old thing:

Layering some more colour & pencil drawing on top:

I am not really keen on it as an object - but as an evolving idea it holds some excitement.  

So I decided to work it out in series format.  Over this last week I've got 10 canvases prepared, a couple more stretchers to use in the project, and got the first colour layer on 3 of them.  I'm using oils for these.  Sizes range from 8x13 to 19x30 inches:

Many of the canvases are repurposed old paintings.  I removed the canvas, turned it around, stitched & re-stretched it.  I like the way they look before the gesso covers up the old titles/signatures.

Next week I'll prep canvas onto those last two stretchers and lay the first colours on them all.  Then it will be a case of working on other, acrylic, paintings while the oil layers dry.  

I have often thought painting is like music - in particular Western classical music with its many layers all travelling at different speeds so to speak, yet working together to create a unified and coherent and beautiful whole thing.  And so in my studio.  Setting up for the long, slow oil process in between the faster acrylic works should make for an interesting tempo over the next few months.