Kicking up the speed

Maybe it's the time of year, maybe it's because I wanted to get over an impasse in painting that I had been in the last couple of weeks but I decided to try and get out of it by kicking up the speed of painting. The week before last I worked on all the (oil) paintings that were in progress: some larger and smaller landscapes and some abstracts in large and smaller sizes. By the end of that week I considered one of the larger landscapes done, the smallest, that you see on the foot of the easel here, took a lot longer (amazing how long you can puts around on such a small painting)

The next week work started on a storage rack for paintings in the backroom of my studio. because I did not think it wise to continue oil painting with all the sawdust in the air I changed to watercolor. Without much of a set image in mind I just started on a pile of leftover paper from different makers, just to see what would happen - and before I knew it i was deep into the process of making one water color after the other. Starting with a continuing theme from one of the oil paintings, branches against a vibrant blue evening sky I soon found myself working on another favorite theme - the french 'bol a cafe' that I'have painted many times in my 'still lifes' on some smaller size papers.

Usually I change to watercolor after a series of oil paintings is done and I find myself in one of those 'in between' periods where I have to figure out what to do next. Early on in my painting career these periods could feel rather scary, like I stepped into a deep black hole. Wow, no inspiration, maybe it will never come back....end of career. Drifting away from the studio and all that has to do with paint did not help to get things started again either. After a while I found my solution, just be in the studio, set myself a chore, like organizing the drawers of the flatfile, cleaning the floor, would eventually spark my inspiration again. And although I'm still not comfortable in 'in between' periods, I now know that only one thing really helps, just paint through it.

Because the technique of watercolor is so different from that of oil paint, I use a different kind of imagery there, which can result in new ideas for oil paintings or just in independent series of watercolors. Either way, it's a highly inspirational change of views!