It says to add a catchy title, where the title now reads, but I am not sure what that would be so I go with whatever springs to mind unless I can think of something that actually relates to what I am about to write. Yes, I am not sure what I am about to write about, thus the title.
Anyway, moving on. No painting for the past three days because of a three-day migraine and the festivities, but hopefully I will be back at work if not today, then definitely tomorrow. I am going to start on a new large canvas, with acrylic paint. Possibly a drip approach and see what develops. They are the trickiest and iffy-est but, in my view, the most interesting. Painting Village 2 (or 1) has its own little challenges, but I hate my tendency to have to refer to the photo too often - for colours, for shapes, for accuracy, etc - particularly since the hoped-for result is not really a replica of the photo. I have to play. The problem with referring to the photo is that it is on the computer and so I have to turn it on, wait for it to come to life -which is a relatively long process, find the file, find the photo, place the computer where I can see the photo without glare, but where it won't get painted or risk crashing to the floor and so on. It all takes so long and all that for a quick look now and again. On my better-organised days, I set up the computer as soon as I go into the studio and sometimes after all that, do not actually use it.
During my away-from-the-studio festivity time, I have worked out what to do about the above-mentioned village. It has been pending for possibly over a week because I had some decisions to make and was not sure how to proceed. Now I do and it seems ridiculous that I did not see this all those days ago. This is what completely sleepless nights produce: painting solutions, ideas, inspirations, very tired people.
It was during a sleepless night that I came up with the solution for the pictured painting above. It is called "Michief" and is still on the Work in Progress (or is it work in process?) page because I am not sure it is finished. The ear on the left is still under-painting, but I like it that way for the moment. I definitely prefer the painting as it now is over how it was before with the reddish, darkish paint where the brown-ochre-white paint is now. Perhaps it is finished. Perhaps it is not.
During those endless, sleepless nights, I also planned how I will get the paintings varnished. I will unstaple Village 1 which is currently stretched onto really, really heavy-duty stretchers and is hanging on the wall easel. It measures 2m10 by 1m50 and so the whole thing weighs a ton and takes up all of the wall easel. Once it is unstapled, I can roll it up and put it in the storage area. If I knew it was finished, I could varnish it first; but I don't, so I won't. Once that is out of the way, I can use the wall easel to hang paintings that have been varnished and are in the process of drying. Depending on size, I could do three to six a day - if the drying time is less than twenty-four hours. I am going to have to find a better hanging method than having to screw two hooks onto each stretched painting to be able to hang it. It is not much work, but it does seem like a lot considering each painting will only hang for a day and then the hooks will have to be removed and put onto the next paintings.
So, it looks like busy days ahead. I still have not been in the studio today to check on temperature and humidity. Yesterday it was 10°C and 69% humidity. It is colder out there today so I am curious to see if the insulation in the studio is as good as I hope. I put a heater-dehumidifier on for a few hours every day - set to 13°C - and I think that has, so far, kept the temperature around 10°C. Painting in under 10° is rapidly difficult. The cold creeps into whatever clothing and shoes I wear. Over 10°, I paint, I dance, I paint and can keep warm enough to paint. Over 14°, I paint and dance occasionally when a good piece comes on. Some songs are just too good not to dance to.
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