In order to give myself louder permission, I’m formalizing the project scope.
This project has a scope. And it’s important for me to say them outloud because one of the challenges I have in abstraction is that I won’t answer the question nagging at me, I will just head in a new direction so that I don’t have to figure out what actually isn’t working. That instinct has a wonderful place in art. That’s great for pure experimentation. It can be great once you have a process established. It’s the way you can really play even though you’ve been doing something again and again and again.
But it’s also getting out of the work that I need to do. It’s a bit like making the bed when really you should be cooking dinner. Or maybe instead of making the bed you rip all the sheets off the bed and say, “Nope, have to wash them first.” It’s avoidance.
I’ve been avoiding figuring out why- at certain points- I divert away from my original intentions with a painting. Maybe that’s because the original intentions weren’t set very firmly. Maybe it’s because I’m not sure how to fix something so I change the conversation. I don’t know. This is part of trying to figure that out.
I’m planning to work through 7 canvas wrapped boards. Why? Purely practical. I have them and they can dry easily on my dryer. No weird storage issues like with my beloved cradled boards. (*sigh*)
I will start with stamping and yellow paint. Move to scribbling. Then gel scrapes to build up color...then finishing? I don’t really know what happens in that middle part. THIS process will hopefully get me closer to some answers there.
Intent: Paintings that are optimistic and playful.
Colors: Yellows to red browns. With *maybe* some accents of purple for darkness and variation.
Values: Low contrast in lighter range.
Opacity: Mostly pretty transparent until the last few layers.