Commenting

I have had some problems receiving comments recently. Tamar and I tried to limit the comment spam but it backfired. Real comments (not spam) were being loaded into the Junk folder. She’s fixed it now and also retrieved some that might have gone unnoticed except for her vigilance. (Thank you, Tamar!) So. To answer some of Jackie’s questions in her comment

So is this proof that a problem painting can be resolved? Have you ever had a painting that drove you bananas from start to finish and then still haunted you?

Yes! But usually I can wait even if it takes a few years to resolve them. That happened with the nine panel piece in this show. I thought it was finished a couple of years ago, but mostly because it was driving me nuts and I wanted it to be done! And I had an opportunity to exhibit it. So I did. But never quite liked it. Now, two years later, after working on it for several months after that exhibit, I do really feel good about it. And am glad to have another opportunity to show it in it’s maturity.

And some technical issues Jackie asked about: I use a Black & Decker heat gun. It has variable heat and different nozzles. With all the rain we had last week, the painting didn’t dry as well as I would have liked. But it was serviceable. I just bought some blending sticks with drier in them. Of course I forgot to use them when I was working on the big blue painting a week before I had to put it in the exhibit!

My oil sticks are the R&F Pigment Sticks. Very pricey but worth it. (I should get a commission: I've turned so many people on to them!) They are so beautiful, the colors so rich. Sometimes it seems like they don’t really dry completely, although the company says they do. Some colors dry glossy, some matte. Some colors take months to dry, some days. I keep a list of drying times posted so I know what colors are best to put down first, but often I am too impatient to mind my own advice.

I gave a talk about my work at the gallery Wednesday. The director of the gallery, when hearing me tell about how I rework pieces, said “So then, it appears you are a very prolific painter, but in actuality, it’s the same paintings reworked being exhibited!” Sometimes, yes! But usually, no. What seems to be happening, which makes me feel very excited, is that I can resolve a painting much sooner and with more certainty than ever before. My vision and decisions are closer, know each other better. It’s a better marriage. And the result is more immediacy (and to me more power) in the work itself. But of course, it does result in a lot of paintings ready to find homes!

Posted by leya at June 22, 2006 08:20 PM