Embarking onto a new trio of paintings. This set of sketches are made up miniatures no more than 2” x 2” and 2” x 4”. Primed with gesso on a basswood panel and sketched out in graphite. I’m going to begin the underpainting in watercolor. I find the medium easy to manipulate on the gessoed panel. It helps me to create a ‘road-map’ for the oil layers that will follow. I’m going to record their progress here. So here we go…
Not a book gets written without the first word, or a painting without that first brushstroke. You must allow yourself a lot of muck. Clear it out, get it out of the way, and then move on. Whatever obstacles are blocking your way put it down. Make your first step an effort to express what is going on inside of you. This may take many sessions of sitting down with a journal and pen using the paper as your means to voice the moods and sensations you are feeling. Don’t worry about grammar or spelling, just keep the pen moving. Don’t censor yourself, don’t judge the work, this is not a literary masterpiece. It is a positive affirmative move towards healing your creative soul. Journaling is a personal therapeutic method for understanding yourself. When tragedy strikes, it leaves us in a dark place feeling very much alone, often in a room full of people. We often feel that no one can understand our pain or stress like we do. So here is where you put it. This is the vessel to fill with what you are feeling inside and witnessing around you. This is the first step towards finding your solution for working past it and into a productive, creative, place.
