Journal

Two pencil studies

Reusing an old sketchbook.
Each square is the size of a regular post-it note

Looking at…

Clutter – work in progress – 14 September 2018
acrylic on canvas
508 × 508mm

Thinking about…

Philip Guston
Ravine, 1979.
Oil on canvas, 68 × 80 in.

Max Beckmann
Night (plate 7) from Hell, 1919
[Die Nacht (Blatt 7) Die Hölle]

Work in progress – seven paintings

It’s almost the end of the month and my self imposed deadline. While there’s still some painting to be done I’m not feeling any pressure to push these works further, though I half expect a couple of the paintings to nag until they’re resolved more fully.

Over the coming week I’ll sit and look at the work, assess what’s working and what isn’t. Hopefully there will be some surprises and I’ll begin to form a clear idea as to what next.

Images I’ve saved on Instagram

Staging strip – working title – work in progress

My aim with these works has been (and still is) to have six finished paintings by the end of the month. This will give me the foundation and directions for my next body of work. I’m also keen to find the language to use around these works and, as odd as this may sound, gain some clarity around how I want to approach making paintings.

Right now I feel I’m not pushing and changing these works hard enough, yet I’m also wanting to live with them for longer. I’ve noticed how my comprehension of the work changes over time. Only this morning, in the work above, did I see the deep red/brown area as a stage or platform with forms sitting upon it against a green vertical backdrop. Previously my concerns lay with the strip running diagonally across the work and how it sits in relation to the areas above and below. It may still need to come forward some more.

With regards to pushing the works, one solution may be to have more surfaces on the go with them entering either a “rapid change” or “slow gestate” stream. Something to consider for the next body of work, but now I’ve got a few paintings to finish.