11 March 2011

drought's broken

...and already I am one day behind with the dishes!

How hard it is to start again when you have had a long break from painting. But paint I must, it is my bread, if not my butter and jam (olive oil serves me better than those, I am sure!)

I miss painting, but fear of failure and too many conflicting emotions from other events, like accidents, earthquakes, curating an exhibition and travelling from one side of the world to the other make it hard to focus.

Yesterday I tidied the studio to my standard, ie, organised and clean, but not pristine. I moved the kettle from the kitchen to the studio, a huge plus!

Today I took out my paper. Dusty. Already ruled for another series. A little damaged. It is clear that my handiman and I have different ideas on how to treat precious paper. He sees it as something to stack out of the way, despite my careful placing of it the right way up with core-board protection.

One piece, not measured out for the Caprile series, was of thicker grade, maybe around 600gsm. Beautiful, deep, wonderfully absorbent, and hungry for paint: dollars and dollars worth of paint, to go with the expensive paper.

But for one big snag.

On the paper is an oily, water resistent stain.

Who knows how that got there?

Inspiration! This is my warm-up, and potentially a great mixed media piece! With a broken sponge I took some oil and dabbed it over the page, thinking of my subject matter as I did so. I let the subjects guide my daubing.

I am back in the studio. It feels GREAT!

Today I am grateful for "happy accidents".

6 comments:

Sarah said...

Wait...you named your paper 'Dusty'? ;)

Go, Mamma, Go!
I am back from the art supply store with more sketch paper as Lil'P ripped up the last of mine.

I love that we are both so inspired, and both heading 'back into it' on the same day!

Kay said...

...and I'm glad that you are painting what comes through you, for others, irrespective of censorship! Go you!

Sarah said...

Photos, please.
*STAMPS FOOT*

Kay said...

Am reluctant to post photos at the moment, the subject matter is only beginning to appear - I'll post retrospectively later, maybe.

I checked my stat counter recently and heaps of my photos have been downloaded from the blog, one wonders why! I am less keen on putting partials that people might think are complete on line early.

Teacake said...

That's not many dishes for a day. Living on coffee?

Congrats on the new inspiration!

Kay said...

Tea and biscuits, but don't tell! (Mostly I eat in the kitchen, there is no "real" food in the studio, so those dishes pile up occasionally too!)