Changing the Meaning of Painting a Day

I have been working on this painting for three days now. Yesterday Harry insisted I change my blog description from "Painting a Day" to "Almost Painting a Day". He said that I need to take more time to build up the history of each piece and since the paintings are now larger, I need to put more than one day into them. After changing the meaning of "painting a day" from "finishing one painting a day" to "just get yourself in there and paint every day!", I feel less pressure and more freedom.

So I solved a technical issue and improved the paintings at the same time. The paint I am using is Winsor Newton water-based oil colors. I like using water as medium but it dries too fast. Don't like the specific medium made for them. But forged ahead with a diff technique, taking a break between layers and doing a combination of letting the paint build up and letting it smear between layers. It builds up a history and creates a longer lasting workable area. This painting seems to have more depth than the others, while still toggling depth with flatness.

I really like that play between flatness and depth. For awhile the background area was a quilt of de-intensified colors. But it was boring. Too obvious to have a de-intensified background. I painted it over creating a wonderful under-history in prep for scraffito. Then I had an urge to use a light turquoise there but argued with myself for awhile because it wasn't proper. A loud voice yelled in my head, "So when did you ever care about proper?!!" So on we go. A forward-projecting background. True, the quilted under-history pulled it back into place a bit. And I had already done my usually last-touch scraffito, but I blobbled paint around it as if the scraffito were an object in the painting. That also seemed to help the background recede. And made for more fun & play.

Yesterday I went to my friend Annette's house. Did I tell you I have the most awesome friends? And we worked on setting up her Etsy/Blog/Feedblitz. She read me something from a book. Annette if you read this what is the name of that book? Author? [I guess maybe post a comment below]

It was about painting being a history of the person. Harry always talks about building up a history of paint and I think this book was also talking about the history of the person coming across and into their paintings. I am beginning to see life as less divided and more integrated & interdependent. I don't know about the theory of a butterfly flapping its wings in the Amazon and starting an avalanche in Alaska, but I think the edges of everyone and everything cross and blur more than we probably like to think. Molecules bounce around, rub off, & float thru the air and attach to other molecules. Things are not really hard-edged, segregated, & clear-cut.

What I believed, thought, and did yesterday affects who I am today. So I want to give my paintings a chance to have a few days history behind them. And haha you can't see the painting yet. Will post when I am sure it is done.

But you can always go buy a painting @ etsy!