Be Courageous

I was in my studio staring at my blank canvas. I had all the tools I needed to start my painting; my reference photos, paint, brushes and the ambition to start. However, a feeling of inaptness was wriggling inside my my belly. I was reminded of a brilliant etching by Albrecht Dürer in which an artist sits, surrounded by all the tools needed for inspired creation and yet, is unable to produce anything.

A tad dramatic, I know but this is kind of how I felt 😉

Anyway the canvas was really white and clean and because it usually takes me about a month to complete a painting, I was hesitant to start. At this point, thankfully,  another artist knocked on my door and amongst other inspiring things said “be courageous, enjoy it and be courageous”.

Wow. Okay.

It took me about two minutes of contemplating this before I jumped up enthusiastically and had my way with the canvas (creatively). I felt exuberant, I felt absorbed but more importantly, I was having fun!

I had a desire to do things a little differently, starting with thin washes of oil colour and  focusing on the purity of the pigments. I was using magenta, crimson and blues of prussian and viridian which seemed to be appearing and dancing and shimmering in forms before my very eyes!… At this point the turpentine had most likely gone to my head 😉

So here is the painting I am working on! It might change and grow a little, like all of my work. I do not like to have a fixed plan for these things,preferring to give a painting a kind of life of its own. Hope you like it!

I would love to hear your opinion! Please comment in the comment box below.