I began this new 12”x9” painting with feelings of ambivalence which quickly turned positive and then possibly a New direction? Certainly a new application or technique to explore further. Initially the bright colors seemed garish, then the challenge to embrace the palette and make it work. This tracks with many a paintings beginnings. When in uncharted territory I’m ready to judge it a failure with the first brushstroke. Luckily, it doesn’t stop but encourages to prove me wrong.
In my early twenties, maybe late teens (pause, on some level that feels like yesterday) I saw for the first time a reproduction of a Maurice Prendergast painting that I felt a strong connection to. I remember the application felt reassuring, somehow I was on the right track. My application here recalls the long ago memory of that painting. I remember in the foreground there was an abstract quality to his marks although the painting had fully clothed figures, handled a similar way. Anyway, I’m sticking with my recollection and anything that calls to mind Prendergast is good, right? I will do some research and dig up a reproduction of said painting. Sure.
Life! Let’s all put on a mask, Get outside and Look Up.
Abstract Watercolor Effect
2021, acrylic on paper, 12”x9”
Abstract detail
2021, acrylic on paper, 12”x9”