Wednesday, April 2, 2008

I admit it...



... I am fickle. When I complete one project, whether it be a tapestry or a painting, I am done with it. Ready to move on, to devote my passions and energy to the next one. In fact, it is almost best for me if I have the 'next one' already in my mind, and perhaps even with canvas primed or loom warped or maquette painted, so that I don't 'fuss about' with the finishing of the last piece. Especially with painting; I can fiddle and fiddle, trying to 'perfect' a piece, if I'm not anxious to be working on something else.

So the canvas is still wet on "The Youngest Groomsman," and I have already primed, drawn up, and put an hour or two of painting work into the next painting. I have begun a landscape. I really don't 'DO' landscapes. It's pretty funny, how oddly we artists think. Most artists I talk to say, "oh I don't DO people! They are too hard." But I'll take a face anytime over a mountain full of trees! People are unique. In this part of the country, there are so many mountains full of trees, they all begin to look alike to me. I find them very intimidating to paint, as I don't know how I can possibly make the painting look interesting and unique.

Well, this landscape is not a mountain full of trees. It is a seascape from our trip to Washington last fall, with a boat in it. I don't know why I feel the need to paint another boat - maybe to 'replace' the stolen boat tapestry. But, for whatever reason, I shall attempt it. And there are trees in it. And sky - I also find sky difficult. Not a lot is going on in the sky in this picture, either. I will have to try to not let it look like a vast empty space, a boring place for the viewer to fall into.

Oh dear. I'm not doing a very good job of encouraging myself to get to the canvas and paint this morning, am I? Well, I shall do it anyway!

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