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Putting the other two aside for the moment, I decide to move on with a new canvas. The approach I usually have to beginning a new image is once a mark is made, the problem begins which in turn initiates the long journey towards it´s resolution. Looking at the preceding paintings I chose green to begin with (as they are mostly red) and added a sweeping curvaceous line diagonally along the blank surface. Something different from the others which appear static and bound within their perimeters. Then I added a point of reference left of centre to send it all off-balance. And so let´s see how it proceeds from here.

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And so I´d begun this, then put it away irritated (so much so that I didn´t take a photo) with the mess I´d made, and to allow it to dry.
The second one´s off the easel now to dry a bit, and so back again to this first canvas.
You can clearly make out that it´s upside down. That´s a joke by the way. As I work on these small canvases, I turn them around 90° or 180° whenever I arrive at a block in an attempt to find a ´way´ of progressing. It doesn´t often succeed and in the end is probably just an act of desperation on my part.
Thinking also how with the sculptural stuff I will spend large amounts of time attempting to physically put them together often hiding behind the process, so not really continuously concentrating on the aesthetic aspect. Whereas when faced with a simple flat surface and colours as in this case, it becomes much more of a standoff to see whether I can really actually paint. Each canvas asks if I have the wherewithal to come up with a meaningful image. They comment witheringly along the way; What is that mess you´re making? What on earth are all those diseased-looking clumps of oil (colour) you´re so partial to?

Initial explorations

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First on the easel

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Five Little Canvases

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Bought some new light canvas material. Sawed up wood and made stretchers. Stretched the canvases, primed them with a couple of coats of hot glue, then four of five coats of hot gesso (made as I learnt one hundred years ago at art school with calcium carbonate, zinc oxide, boiled linseed oil, and rabbit-skin glue), allowing each coat to dry and be sanded. In all takes a few weeks (mostly waiting for surfaces to dry) but then the finished blank canvas is such a pleasure to work with.