Category: Uncategorized
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The good news is that my latest painting, the Tiger Bride, is almost finished. The bad news is that the human propensity to fiddle is potentially endless. And so it is that I have been hovering over the canvas with a tiny brush, making minute changes that no-one is likely to notice. Or even if…
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For those of you have been following the progress of my latest painting, Tiger Bride, you’ll be relieved to hear that the damned thing is nearly finished. Today was spent fiddling with minor details such as a the rose petal shower (the petals themselves, up close, look a bit like autopsy tissue samples), the girl’s…
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The Tiger Bride is gradually being completed, or as it so often feels with a painting, finishing itself. Like the cycle of a typical love affair, images hit the stage where there is nothing more to be learned/nothing left to discover/nothing more to give, and this is usually when you decide the painting is finished.…
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Life, as they say, gets in the way. In this case it got in the way of posting regular updates about the progress of The Tiger Bride. And, more specifically, I’ve lost track of how many days I’ve been working on the image: I think it’s about thirteen or fourteen. The painting has changed quite…
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Paintings, like people, go through rough patches. Many paintings, again like people, start off beautifully: all fresh, clear and focussed. Unfortunately the process of actually painting (deciding how something should look, the drawing and composition, paint applications, considering possible readings of the imagery) erodes this initial clarity, particularly during the mid stages of the painting,…
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Day five in the studio was another short day. I have this routine, three days a week (when Sophie is in daycare): go to the gym for an hour in the morning, write for between one and two hours, then get into the studio at about midday and work until 4pm. At the moment I’m…
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Day two and three in the studio (not consecutive) involve more layers of acrylic paint and fiddling with the drawing… It’s about this stage that I started missing oil paint, its sticky richness and intensity of colour. The acylic is fine for the underpainting, helps seal the canvas and means that you’re…
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Another well intentioned attempt to follow a painting from ‘cradle to grave’, or rather from the first sketches through to the end product. The painting I have chosen is about 4′ x 5′ (must get into metric one day) and I have a special affection for it, although currently it remains untitled. It’s part of…
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In May my ex-husband and I took our daughter on a road trip, in his campervan, to visit Dubbo Zoo. Driving through regional NSW, a sketchbook balanced precariously on my knees, I made notes about the journey. I remember being fascinated by the changes in the landscape, how one minute you could be in what…
