I’m in the final stages of finishing the large canvas that I’ve been documenting here, spending a lot of time weighing the weight of the colors and forms and adding a bit here and there to bring it into balance. It’s slow work and sometimes I have to just get away from it to clear my head. I have spent this time working on finishing a few other paintings that have been in hanging in limbo for some time, in various stages of semi-completion.
One such piece is shown above, In the Early Morning, a 12″ by 36″ canvas that I started some time ago and just couldn’t get it past the initial stages of laying in the composition and several layers of color on the sky. The color just wasn’t working for me on this piece and I wasn’t excited by where it seemed to be heading. So I put it aside, thinking that eventually I might try again. I usually do try again although there is one similarly sized canvas in my studio now that is about a year old and about which I seem to have enthusiasm. That piece may just end up getting painted over if only to get it out of my sight and mind.
On the other hand, this painting survived its time in limbo and I find myself glad of it. It felt, the more I looked at it, as though it needed a single color to bring it together thematically. I initially thought of making it a nocturnal scene but could see that, while I wanted the color to be blue, I wanted it to be lighter. It ended up being more of a dawn scene, a time to which I am attracted to naturally, both personally and in my work.
I don’t know what this piece is saying yet but it doesn’t matter to me now. It has a placid feel and I find the blues soothing throughout this scene. It’s beauty is enough for now– in the early morning.
Redtree Times 