Painting Again

I have been spending the last couple of months not being able to paint. I have been working in pastel instead. I had a canvas that I was working on but that had gotten me stumped. I was also broke and practically all out of paint. My brushes had all gotten hard or lost their bristles.

Now things are much better. I have gotten a little bit of money back from taxes and purchased some new tubes of paint and started working again.

In doing creative work, sometimes you have to put your work away for a while. I had started a painting with a woman in the foreground. There are some open windows of an apartment building in the background where there going to be a few glimpses of people watching television. I was going crazy trying to figure out the scale in perspective of the foreground and the background figures. Finally, it hit me, simplify! I decided to simplify the woman and make the background figures more abstract, shadowy shapes. Suddenly, everything seemed to be falling into place.

I get the feeling that once a painting is started, it is like it begins to come alive. It is like a voice talking to you saying, "Look, over in this corner! I need a to be brighter here." Sometimes it says, "No, don't go now! You have to change that woman's feet. "

It sure would be nice to work on my own time. I think I would like Picasso's work schedule. If I remember correctly, he would sleep late, spend the afternoon or dinner with friends, then work until early morning in the studio.

Responses welcome readers.

Joseph