Back to the canvas

Corner Gallery is having another switch around with new artists being introduced. I decided to take over my four new pieces to mix up with some of the previous ones. Couple of them are more autumn in theme and the new ones are kinda summer ones (though that wasn't intended) so we swapped them out to see what response they get.

Naturally I forgot to take some decent images of the finished ones. I'm just not set up to have a handy spot with good light to easily arrange things for photography.

With a north facing window there's a whole palaver of clearing space from my work table and piled up boxes with laptop on top, stacking up whatever I can find to prop up a vertical backdrop of paper (or anything plain white) and usually having to drag over and plug in a couple of lamps to get rid of shadows then fix the collapsed background a couple of times...gawd, it's a pain in the arse for sure for five minutes of photos. Add in how hard it is to not have the phone mess with the focal point and create a HUGE hand or foot if it's pointing to the camera...gaaahhh.

Then I have to deconstruct it all after, put away all the bits and set up my worktops again. No, I do not like taking photos.

But I have one for this week since I have a part done painting. Gonna stick with canvas for a bit since I've got plenty of them lying around aka stuffed in boxes and propped against a wall. No idea how I came to have so many. Probably just snagged them when I saw the right shape/size on special offer.

Aaand now I see that stupid Nokia thing is still showing on recent images. Didn't notice it when I took the pic.

....okay, had to go back and find how to disable it since I'll have forgotten next time. Anyhow...

So, what is this? A larger, modified version of the wee test run I did a couple of months back. Of course the central bit was hacked about cos I didn't like it much. It was a 'hole' textured paper but after adding inks it just didn't look right so I ripped most of it off (but now have some lovely lacy pieces in nice colours so they can be used as texture in another painting).

I then used some modelling paste to add texture, then a bit more here and there to balance it out, but it's still not right. Not sure about the blue colour fade out either. Or the large area of grey green on the bottom right. But that's how it goes with any painting I guess. You look at different angles to see what's up and now I have this photo, it shows me something different about how the detail part sits. The balance is still definitely off, even with the extra bits I added. Maybe it needs some shape variation and angle changes like the original. To be continued.

Caught a glimpse of another one I started ages ago that didn't really work. Now it's been left I'm no longer attached to whatever idea I had in mind so it's ripe for some drastic changes. I'm learning that this is the best way to go with things that don't hit the mark right away. Painting isn't always like the tutorials on YouTube, where it looks like it all turns out perfectly in a twenty minute time lapse! But patience is not one of my virtues. I like to be able to say 'done' and move on to the next idea.

Then again, revamping a part done piece, no longer having a preconceived idea in mind and trying to work around any textured areas is an exercise in creativity and ingenuity and that's all part of getting better.