Springer Spaniel

The original sketch of the dog, from life, and she wouldn't sit still, even with many treats placed on the windowsill, was in Private Reserve fountain pen ink that is not permanent. The image lost its delicacy with a matte fixative, which blended the lines. Then I created a loose background by looking at the bare trees outside my living room window. I quite like the effects in the background, but they do not work with the drawing of my dog stylistically. I was in a funk before I began - it's not surprising that I ended up with a funk. My morning Moleskine page from today.

I could turn my poor baby into some fetal thing hanging from the tree. Two Geists were working in me today (metaphorically speaking, no, no, I don't 'channel'!), and they weren't into each other's vision.

Springer Spaniel, 21cm x 29cm, 8" x 11.5", 2012, Moleskine folio Sketchbook, multi-media.

                              

House Plant 3

'House Plant, 3', 4 drafts, 21cm x 29cm, 8" x 11.5", 2012, Moleskine folio Sketchbook, oils.

Not to be undone by black, I begin again. A lighter black wash, and quickly brushing the main forms out of it.

                              

The House Plant 2

The House Plant, 2, 4th draft, 21cm x 29cm, 8" x 11.5", 2012, Moleskine folio Sketchbook, oils.

Where it ended up. Dark, gloomy. It's the black. Most artists don't use it at all. It's very hard to work with. Oh, ok as an outline or as some clothing or a hair colour or to efface a section... but if I start with a black background rather than white I always run into problems. Even though coming from nothing, arising out of the blackness, works for me metaphorically, in paint... it's been most challenging. I had hoped my relation to black had changed and so I began optimistically with a black background (brushed, not fully opague), but it hasn't changed.

The black beneath the colour sucks all the brightness in, leaving a dark, greyish, gloomy surface. I admit I did not use another underlayer of a lighter colour but painted sap green right on the black, which was absorbed immediately. You could only see it in good light.

Last night, in very dim light, I dry brushed some magenta and white onto the painting. I also drew the outlines of the leaves in a permanent acrylic ink, bringing the plant back to recognizable. Not sure why I do that either, but it is part of my process, negotiating with the patterns of the concrete, actual world of recognizable forms.

Magically, and there was a lot of oil paint on it, it is dry enough to turn the page of my Moleskine sketchbook and continue on. I may again start with a black background, because I am challenged.