Things take time

The more I panic about my deadline, the more my skills wane. So, I tell myself that things take time and a slow, deliberate pace is what I need now. This is the canal piece near it's finish.

Still 36 to go

Here are today's efforts.

T-Minus 36

Yesterday I finished (but will probably paint more on it later) the Three Gondoliers. I have yet to form an opinion on it. There must be something awry. The color is an issue maybe. The image I have posted is a little hotter than the original. Still, there is something going on that I don't get yet. Today, I will see about that canal piece. It's been neglected long enough. 5 weeks left. Oh, dear.

T-38

New piece today. It's a mood thing. I did a watercolor of the window in the Hotel Paris in Florence. I'm working from the watercolor and a photo. I put too many layers of gesso on this canvas. There is nothing grabbing the paint off my brushes. I am really having to force the medium onto the canvas. I'll make sure my next canvas has more texture. The last piece had too much tooth and I found it sucking up my all the paint. So, the Hotel Paris painting is very glowy. And I want it to get glowier. I've done a few glazes instead of putting opaque paint down. Hopefully I can save the special glowy part and layer up the shadows for the effect I want. Tomorrow, I readdress the canal, the 3 gondoliers and the hotel window. Should be fun!

T- Minus 40

I continued to work on putting color down, then reacting to it, then placing the next color, etc. At some point the whole canvas surface became adjacent to the last color applied so I shifted my style to what I am going to refer to as The Plow. Now I have a piece on the brink of completion. So, I think I'll use these two systems on the next piece. I think it's about the starting point. The starting point will be the most complex, the most interesting and the most difficult part of the painting. And essentially, it's the fun stuff that I want to dive into anyway(faces, hands, feet, brilliant colors-whatever). After that, I can engage The Plow. I will return to this piece I'm sharing today with a low-impact approach so I can finish with a little finesse. We'll see. I might be making this all up.

T-Minus 42

This painting is moving along but my goal of ten is looming large. This is only number four. Anyhow, the work continues...

The Three Gondoliers Revisited

Today, I redrew the figures larger and off center. That seemed like the right thing to do. So, after I scummbled in some stuff and darkened the pants all around, I wanted to do something fun. So I put some color in the middle man's face. I am going to paint the rest of this painting in the following way: I'll put down paint adjacent to the color that I last applied for the rest of the canvas. It is going to be an exercise in color relationships on a neighborly scale. Everything will spiral out from my middle man's face- or maybe not spiral-but spread in any direction-just no skipping around.

The Three Gondoliers

Ok, I drew in the figures on this painting and let it sit for a few days because I knew it was wrong but could not make myself do anything about it.

T-minus 48

November 1 is my deadline for 10 new paintings. I essentially have 3. This makes me officially behind. I've been struggling with the canal piece and today will draw in a new composition-probably gondoliers. No more time to work on commissions until after my Nov. deadline is met.

Pin Up?

Today I went back to that commission piece. They changed their minds about which reference they wanted me to use. My subject is a natural Vargas girl. It's hard to resist mimicking his style. I put way too much paint on the canvas way too fast. I''l let is sit for a little bit then address the drawing issues. I am officially behind on my November goal. It's still in reach though. Tomorrow's another day.

An Exhibit

Over the weekend, my work was featured in an open house at the Stone Griffin Gallery in Campbell, CA. "La Bicicletta", "Gondolier" and the new canal piece all hung along with other, less recent work. The work was well received- "La Bicicletta" especially. I, personally, have a good feeling about the canal piece. Along with the event comes the exhaustion the day after. So, today is my day after. Tomorrow, I get back on the horse. This coming week and the weeks to follow, I'll be painting an extra day each week. That means more productivity! I still have my sights set on ten new pieces by November.

Eight weeks left

Here is the progress on the most recent piece. I'm working on it today so, I'll have more to say later. To get to Eileen Graham Fine Art, view my profile and then select my web page.

La Bicicletta

Yesterday, I endeavored to finish La Bicicletta. I didn't quite get there but the work left over is worth putting off to work on the new canal piece. I'm looking forward to Friday, when the new pieces will hang. I want to get the canal piece up to hang-ability. "Paintings are never finished, they only stop at interesting places." (~ someone good at rationalizing) I'll employ this philosophy this week because I'm not sure there is time left to put a perfectly polished finish on the canal piece.

A Finished Painting

On Saturday, I finished the Gondolier. I'm sure I'll see things that I'd like to tweak but it has to hang this week. So, we'll call it a complete painting. It took one month, give or take. That is a longer process than I'd like but it is a realistic time frame-and typical of my pace.