DS #2: A Kindness of Tendrils: Really finished!

 I am partly on to getting new drawings ready for new paintings, but I keep deciding this one is not quite finished. So I did some more on it Tuesday and today. Tuesday I added the three dark red circles or sets of circles (at both ends of the bottom, and at the middle-ish top). Today I added a little more to those circles, and also did a bit more stuff to the right-hand wolf cub. Now it feels really finished, with a more intense energy.

Now I'm on to composing new paintings. I have one drawing ready to transfer already, put together some pieces that were really exciting for a second one Tuesday, and got a third one going today, with some pieces gathering for a fourth one I think. And spent time going through older sketchbooks, and contemplating and percolating.

 

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DS #2: Final stages - finished

Last week I got three painting times in.  Here are the final stages of DS #2, which is still looking for a title, but closer to finding one - more about that below.

 

 I added a big blue circle. I was definitely not sure, at this point, if it added anything, but was reserving judgement. I did more work on the howling wolf cub that's sitting in that blue circle; gave the horse a belly line; and I added a string of circles on the left. I really liked those circles! I also felt like I wanted, next, to surround those circles with some green.

 

I surrounded circles with green. Yes! Love it! I also ran an orange line along the bottom, into that blue circle. I think that maybe helps, but that blue circle is still kind of overpowering the rest, and not cooperating with anyone else... What if I add another blue (half-) circle, cattycorner to it?

 

I think that helps. One thing that's going on now, that I like, is that the axis - the imaginary line - between the two blue circles accentuates the angle of the horse's head and stance.

Signed and dated... but I feel like there's still something else needed...

So, a title: how about A Kindness of Tendrils? Or maybe, A Kindness of Tendrils and Equinity?

 

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More on DS #2 - some bigger changes

I decided to take some bold risks here, and have put more circles on the horse. Well - that is to say - I put circles on the horse - there were none there before; that makes for more circles in addition to the big yellow one.

I also added some cerulean around the big yellow circle, and purple with little blades.

And I worked a bit more on both of the wolf cubs.
 

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DS #4 (Threaded Through?) - really finished, now

Well, yup, I did some more. Now I'm very happy with it!

 Another biggish circle on the right - with purple edge; some warm orange-blond added to the foal's tail, which connects to the yellow circles; and some green edge/background to the big leaf.

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DS #4: Finished (or all-but)

 I've gotten some extra painting time in in the last couple of weeks - yay! Today, unexpectedly, I felt like #4 was just about finished, as I was working. I added some strings of circles, and one larger orange circle, and then a green edge to the orange circle, and framing lines in opposite corners. I think that does it!

And I think I have a title, now: Threading Through. Still sitting with that...

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More work on DS #2 and DS #4

In the last two weeks, here's how things have shifted on DS #4:

 First, a bunch of bright yellow green added itself around the foal.

Next, after I finished doing all I wanted on the foal, I overlaid curls and waves and curliques of colored line, and a curled up end on the sort of wave rising up through the big leaf. And added the first of the strings of circles.

On DS #2, I faced working on the first howling wolf cub.

And more on the wolf cub, and did more on the horse's eye and forelock and body:

 

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Finished photos of Underwater and Infinity Horse

 I'm posting these now, but I'm hoping to get better photos; these are scanned, and the look of the paintings has been somehow flattened in them; colors seem opaque rather than transparent and full of detail. If (once) I get better photos of them, I will replace. But for now:

                                                

                                Infinity Horse, Interlaced

and:

 

 

                                   I Think We Must Be Underwater

Underwater suffers more from the thick heaviness that the scan gives it. All the same, I love these pieces.

Work on DS #4 and DS #2

 Here's how these two are coming along, since Tuesday's work on them:

More detail work on the foal, and I've added a swathe of bright yellow green around him, which I like a lot! And:

A bit more purple around the horse's head, and tidying up in the strands of his forelock; and a little more work on the wolf cub, which I still approach very nervously.

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Underwater: finished! And more work on DS #4

 Got several painting times in this week, too. So happy about that. Tuesday I "finished" Underwater, and signed and dated it. I knew there might be some little thing that I was not quite satisfied with, as is often, or almost always, the case, and indeed, I was not totally happy with the dog, so I worked another 5 minutes on Thursday, and felt happy with him.

This is the "finished" stage. I felt like the painting needed more energy, more intense color, and more repeated elements to carry the eye around the painting. So I intensified the color of the orange circle, which may or may not be a sun, and added little flaring bits to the green curve outlining it, and extended that line leftwards with some purple; I brightened the woman's arms and chest; I worked more on the dog; and I added the yellow rectangles with green centers to the tree trunk, also bringing some of that bright yellow up into one of the branches. This pleased me very much!

And here's the dog after that extra five minutes...

 

And a clearer look at those yellow rectangles, and the woman.

Friday afternoon I got some more painting in, this time on DS #4. I have felt very nervous about working on the foal, but was able to spend time on it, and am very happy with how he's going. I also learned more about how and when to use my fine brush - I have preferred to use brushes with fat bellies and fine points for doing fine work, and have felt frustrated with trying to use fine brushes for details, but this time I felt I was getting the hang of it.

I Think We Must Be Underwater, and Infinity Horse, Interlaced, have now gone off to be scanned. Yay!

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Underwater: Very very very very close...

 Got a third painting session in this week, yay!

This is very very very very close to being Done, now...

For balance and energy: added green lines/outlines along one side of the orange circle, and around the creature's tail and along some of the upper tree; a dark blue under the creature; more red-brown in some of the upper branches, and then some purple and blue in the trunk; and worked more on the dog.

So close! I think it's time to sit with it; pretend I'm not looking at it, and catch it by surprise; look at it out of the corner of my eye... and let it tell me if that's all, or if there's some little thing it still needs. Maybe something more on the dog...

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More work on Underwater - getting close

Had a week off due to, not holidays, but covid which I had instead of holidays - and was too sick to mind, but I'm better now... So, I got to paint twice so far this week, and here are the two updates:

Added the line below the Creature, did other work on the Creature's head and body, and worked quite a bit on the dog, and a little on the woman's body.

Today, added another line below the Creature's body, worked more on the dog and more on the woman's face; and did some other little tweaks and fixes.

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More work on Underwater, this last week, and a little on #2

 Happy solstice!

I'm slow updating this week - got covid the day after I painted, when I was supposed to be packing and driving down to my daughter's in L.A.; and so, I didn't (pack up and load up and drive away).

But here's what I worked on Tuesday:

More work on the creature; I'm not sure the photo is doing it justice, but I like how he's coming along; more work on the woman, and I've finally started to break my anxious avoidance on the dog - who, by the way, seems kind of an Airedale type to me. He's the one who said, in my dream, "I think we must be underwater," which became the title for this painting.

Here are a couple of details:

And a little little work on #2:

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Recent work on DS #2 and DS #3 - and a title for DS #1

I skipped last week for updating, but I worked on both of these last week. This week I only worked a little bit on #3, and not on #2.

Last week's work on #2:

 

And here's how the whole piece looks, at this point:

More on the horse's face and neck - I like the sensitivity of his face. I like that arcing band of blue and purple above his neck - somehow it feels like it echoes his ears. I also worked a little bit more on both the howling wolf cubs, but am still feeling pretty nervous about working on them.

And on #3, which does have a title - I Think We Must Be Underwater - I did a bit more on the woman last week; this week I just worked some on the creature, but I am finally feeling happier with how that's looking.

 

One other thing: I finally have a title I like for #1.

                                     Infinity Horse Interlaced

 

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Back to work on Dream Surreal pieces: DS #2 and DS #4

 I was still feeling kind of tired, Tuesday, but I picked some soothing stuff to work on. I love painting around the outsides of things. And I seem to be into purple right now... On DS #4 I painted around some of the edges of the foal. Purple + some green and some burnt sienna and yellow ochre.

That's a close up; and this is what it's looking like now, as a whole:

On DS #2, I just filled in a bit among the strands of the horse's forelock, and then played around a little bit, around his ears. I also tried doing some lifted lines in the upper part of the purple. I will probably work a bit more on those.

They almost start crossing the lines in the green, like a lattice, I feel like...

 

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Some other new stuff

This last Tuesday (the time that the art group I'm in meets, via Zoom), I hit one of those days when I didn't feel up to working on any of my new series. Pre-Thanksgiving issues, maybe - I don't know. Anyway, it felt like time to just bathe in the colors and how the water spreads them on the paper... So this one is from Tuesday. Maybe finished, maybe not, and maybe "finished" is irrelevant, even:

 I do like it, in any case. The time spent painting was sweet, and what came of it feels soothing and healing to me.

Sometime last month (October 24th) was another time when I hit that I-don't-want-to-work-on-the-new-pieces barrier, and reminded myself that I'm allowed to just play with the paint and water and paper; and this is what came of that:

-- I enjoy this one, too.

 

Then there are my Sunday morning noodlings, with my multi-color colored pencils, and sometimes some color sticks. On Sunday mornings I am usually chat host for the Zoom end of my Unitarian Universalist church's services. I show up an hour and a half early for sound check - I figure I'm a good person to do that, as my ears are not great, even with hearing aids, so if I get the sound right for me, it will probably be good for most people - and I like to keep my hands busy. (This is one thing that feels so good to me about doing art: just having a pencil or a brush in my hand, moving it on the paper, making marks, playing with colors and shapes and patterns.)

Here's one that was continuing this last Sunday (I don't always keep working on them more than one time):

Oh, the edges of leaves! I love the shapes, and I love getting to fill in around them with mindless, soothing, smooth color...

 

One from early last month:

This one was going more slowly and thoughtfully than I usually work on these pieces; I was paying more attention to composition, and going one piece at a time. Add a bit; see how it feels; grope around for what next little bit might want to be added - or, is it time for just something I feel like doing (like the circles above), and see if that adds to it or throws it off...

And one from September:

There are things I really get excited about, in this one! What to do with it? Should I try turning it into a finished painting? Or will it just stay in my sketchbook or my files? I don't know. But I'm enjoying it.

 

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DS #1 Finished, more work on DS #3

 DS #1 is now finished, and dated. I did more new work on it than I'd expected: a string of three more yellow circles in the upper left, to mirror the ones in the lower right; and also softened and extended the orange in the horse's butt. Also a little bit more detail in the wolf cubs and their connection to the blue band.

And more work on the horse in DS #3: around one ear and the side of the face; more on the forelock; and then surrounding with a dark purple.

Still looking for a title for #1...

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DS #1: Just. About. Done.

This is an actual stage in my paintings and other art: Finished - Just About. Meaning that I think it's finished, maybe - sometimes I'm more sure, sometimes less - but the piece needs to sit a few days or a week or so, and then I'll look at it again, and ask all the parts of me - my gut, my heart, my feet, my left elbow - listening as closely and clearly as I can: is there anything unsettled? Anything that feels like it's missing? Does it have all the energy and balance it needs? Has it completed the circle?

Considering that I often don't know what my pieces mean, or are about (I just (hopefully) feel strongly that they are trying to say something), this is not an easy thing. And it may be years, decades, before I consciously understand a painting better...

So, here it is, DS #1 (which now needs a title), all-but-finished; untaped, signed, and partly dated:

This is not the well-photographed image I'll end up with, but a just-for-now pic.

One of the things posting it here will do for me is help me see it more clearly.

Now it needs a name. Anyone have any thoughts? I'm open to suggestion...

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Recent work (on a bunch)...

 I've gotten behind on posting! But here are some updates.

On #1: I've been working on this batch of little howling wolf cubs. Last week - a little outlining of throat on two of them; this week: more rendering and details, and the two are getting much closer to finished. Once I finish them and the lefthand one, and do one more (currently secret-surprise) element, I think this painting will be done. And will need a name.

 

On #4: I've been working on the sleeping foal, and liking the way it's going; also did a little more on the magenta curl. Again, I'm thinking about how much more this painting needs before I feel like it's done; I would say, a fair amount more, but it's moving along...

 

 

 

On #2: I've been working on the woman - and her hair! And a bit more on the tree, I think; and some on the dog. I am liking what's happening with the woman!

With this one, clearly the dog needs to be developed, and the fishy creature also needs some unknown additional work; and I feel like it needs something else, but I'm not sure what, yet; but I feel like the painting is just about in sight of being finished.

 

And, on #3: I've done lots more work on the horse, and like what's happening, but there are things I'm not sure about. And, of course, more work to do on little howling wolf cub #1, and all of the work on the second one; and then, again, some unknown stuff. But (is this getting boring? or maybe exciting?) this one, too, feels like it's maybe 75% finished?

 

 

And so then, I'm thinking maybe it's time to go looking through my older work and sketchbooks again, and start planning another two or three or four of these... Hmmm.

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