Primer

All beginnings look pretty much alike. I am working on my latest mural putting in the under layers. I hope to be finished by the end of this week. Of course, it would be delightful to be into the drawing as well. As always in the beginning, I am waiting for paint to dry. The humidity in the air and the coolness of the garage are two factors that are retarding that process. It might come as a surprise to some but there are other things to do in the meantime, like writing a blog! Getting back to the mural, I have decided to go with five strips of cloth eight feet long. Cloth, yes, I am painting on fabric. Unfortunately, or maybe, fortunately the fabric is forty-six inches wide. My mural is eight feet by sixteen feet. It is better to have an overlap at the join of each section so once I have the layers of preliminary colour on the sheets I will arrange them on my temporary wall so that the overlap will be able to accommodate the cut. I am experimenting as usual. I intend to cut the fabric once I have the drawing done. That will allow me to paint the joins as if they are one. It will be easier to line them up and the overlap will be in place ahead of time. There are a few other challenges. My temporary wall was only six feet by thirteen feet. Within the space of my garage there is no room for a longer structure but it was possible to add two feet to the height. I decided to put it on my easels. I am so glad I did. I cannot tell you how many times I have had to move the wall to get into my storage unit since my son and I installed it. I love the person who invented castors.

Lac Bouchard

This is the second of two paintings done “en plein air”. I picked a wonderful evening. To begin with I wondered if I had left it too late. After all I set out at the nth hour of seven or as my husband prefers nineteen hundred hours. The sun sets at about nine thirty  these days and it takes around an hour to get to where I was going. The other thing that bothered me was that I really did not know where I was headed. I remembered the general vicinity, a beautiful spot the children and I had discovered on a Sunday afternoon drive. I could not remember the name of the lake. I began making up excuses for not going such as I do not have the “right” equipment. Truly the task would be easier if I had a proper lightweight, ‘en plein air’ easel. Sigh. Choose and move. I set off with my cardboard box full of prepared panels, my less that efficient fold up easel, my oil paint box and a bucket with the extra things like a bottle of mineral spirits and rags in it. As I drove I passed the point where I thought the turnoff should be, again excuses bubbled up. “You missed it. Maybe you should just go home.” Of course being the stubborn… determined individual I am I continued down the road. I decided to relax and enjoy the ride. I turned off the road when the sign indicated Lac Bouchard Lake. I did remember that the trail continued out onto a sandy spit so I did not stop at the upper campsite and ventured as far as the spot where the four by fours evidently had trouble getting in and out. OK. I have a 1995 Neon. Not the same thing. I would walk from here. Being present opens a world of wonder. I was serenaded by a lovely chorus of frogs to the south and  a  profusion of birds all around. The light softened into liquid gold. Awestruck I almost forgot to paint.

Multitasking

So what do I do between things? Well, today I washed cars… I also put the finishing touches on the two new ‘Eves’ that will be on display this month at Roche’s Fine Things. There is a mural in the background on the photo. I did some rearranging on that one too… There is another mural on the way. One of these days I will go into town to purchase the fabric for it. Ooooh, I love this new technique. So easy to transport and a lot lighter than 4 x 8 sheets of half inch plywood. The fact is that I need to multitask. If I complete all my projects at once I am left standing in the middle of the floor wondering what to do, immobile. Stuck. I do not like that feeling. It is not likely to occur though. I plan to start several different projects besides the mural in the not too distant future. There is a series of black and white drawings I wish to have done by the end of October. The plein air studies will be complete by the end of September. Ten of each. Then there is the new series entitled “Pilgrims” and the other one that is a secret…. I can hardly wait to begin that one. This is one secret I do not mind keeping!