Wednesday, April 29, 2009

Slay the Children (paintings, that is)

At last the panels are finished that I started at Rebecca Crowell's workshop. In addition to developing the original panels, several additional smaller panels were worked on once I returned home, and now everything is drying. The next step is to experiment in putting the panels together. Unlike Rebecca's deep cradles, mine are only 1" deep, and they have a slight curve on the inside where they join the panel. This makes bolting tricky, so I'm looking at other ideas, or how I can adapt. It's all about being flexible, right? A trip to my nearby building centre for some advice may help. I keep saying to myself, "Don't be afraid to slay the children", but at this point, it's a little nerve-wracking. I will post photos when done.

These are the last of the photos from the workshop. How I wish I had taken more; I guess I needed an extra pair of hands.

In this photo, Rebecca is applying solvent to a panel and carefully wiping back layers of paint.


























Here, she has just drawn an image with a paint stick, ( a new material for me, and they are so interesting to work with), and she will further embed and manipulate the marks into her image.
I am fascinated with the intuitiveness of the oil/cold wax methods that Rebecca uses, without ever sacrificing the intellectual side of the process.

2 comments:

Rebecca Crowell said...

Glad to hear about the outcome--you had a lovely beginning at the workshop. I hope you will post the finished work now?

Being able to "slay" parts of paintings that you love but aren't helping the overall work is a huge step. It's all about non-attachment, a continuing lesson that I guess applies to other areas of life too. It's also having the confidence to know that whatever it is you've "lost" will reappear in some new and probably better form. Believe me, I'm still working on this stuff myself...

Barbara said...

Isn't it great that we will always have "stuff" to work on? We just have to keep the faith and push ourselves; things usually work out. If not, then tomorrow is another day.

The pieces I started at your Rochester workshop are completed, but have taken on a totally different life - not a figure in sight! (Next time, maybe.) They are being exhibited this month; will post photos soon.