Another topsy-turvy week this week. I had planned to do a lot on my website, did do some changes and added a page with the newest paintings on, but not the things that I intended to do which is add a shop for direct sales.  I am totally flummoxed by setting it up.  I have enough computer knowledge to know I should be able to create a dynamic page that will add products automatically as they are added to a database. Determined to have this done before the end of the month.

In other goals I am still plugging on with the collages.  I am growing to like the routine of this being the first arty thing I do each day.  It gets my head into the right space for creating.

‘Mountains to Climb”

“The Biggest Leap”

I’ve also finished a couple of paintings, smaller pieces but they take just as long as larger ones.  My exploration of pushing the value range ever closer is becoming one of my main goals.  I love that kind of subtlety in value and colour.  I’m also working on a larger piece that continues to confound me.  I have no idea what it is about or where it is going.  Every day I add something else and it doesn’t seem to get any further.  It might be time to take a risk and do something totally off the wall!  There are bits of it I love, and I played with a mount, sectioning it off and finding many smaller pieces within it that excited me.  It has been suggested that you can reproduce these into smaller works but I have no idea, for the most part, how I got to that point!  It would be interesting to try it out.

Play Panel Chaos!

Regarding trying out, this week has been a week of trying to play.  I struggle enormously with playing with paint, probably a reflection of me rather than anything. I do wonder if always having been quite a solitary person has anything to do with it.  When I am starting new panels, I lather the paint on to build a surface, usually just using random colours.  Its great when you sand back or scrape through wet paint and get those surprises coming through from previous layers.  But this week was supposed to be more about exploring things. Trying things with no expectations of results and it completely threw me.  Knots in my stomach and frustration returned with a vengeance!  I tried collaging in papers as I love that in other people’s work and then spent hours sanding it all off again as it had dried wrinkled and just really aggravated me.  I have a built in desire for everything to look nice!  As you can see from the image of one of my play boards, this is how it ended up.  I have no idea what this is, and not sure this is something I would ever explore!  I do have to get  over this though and learn to play nicely without throwing all the toys out of the pram!