Busy Evening, 2009. oil on canvas 40 x 50 sold
Here is my first larger work of the year. (I can hardly believe that it is May already.) I still seem spending most of my time prepping panels and canvases. I was really running low in my painting support inventory. I like to have a whole range of sizes available, so when I start a body of new work so I can paint in what ever size I wish. I don't work in standard sizes, so I prep a lot of different sizes, not just four or five different standard sizes. I like to have around fifty to sixty painting supports in my studio. I don't like to be limited when a new painting idea comes into my head. In between all this prepping I'm still getting a painting done here and there. It's not how I normally work, but it seems to be working for me right now.
I'm usually much more focused on getting the prep work done and back to painting all the time. This year it seems that I am doing both at the same time, it's not the most efficient way of working, but with no current deadlines I can work on paintings and drawings at a slower pace. I don't have to force anything. If I get stuck on an idea in a painting, I can take time to just look at it. I can spend some time prepping and looking at the painting while I'm doing other things around the studio. It helps to see the problems of the painting and (hopefully) make it a better painting out of it. It's just the ebb and flow of studio life.
