"State Of Mind"

(Experimental Piece.....6" x 12"....Water Soluble OIls on 300 lb HP)

"Resting is a quieter state of mind." This is a deeply felt quote by me because I often struggle with maintaining a state of rest and a quieter state of mind. The word "quieter" implies that there is a comparison being made. And there is indeed. The opposite of quiet is noisy and chaotic and not a good place to be.

This is classified in the category of my gestural landscape pieces. This was yet another warm up piece in preparation for larger oil paintings based on the landscape. It is in the landscape that infinite value ranges are visible to give an artist unlimited motivation to interpret realistically or with various degrees of abstraction.

My dilemma as far as process goes is having a block of time to finish a larger work alla prima. (wet-into-wet) I don't like splitting up the time since a skin will form on the paint overnight and with the technique of palette knife this does not work well.

Since yesterday, I have made a large palette (18" x 24") out of float glass attached to the same size heavy duty white foam core with white duck tape. The important part is keeping this palette very wet until the painting is finished. I will be storing it in a shallow storage container and another one for the actual painting. This will allow me to spread out the time it takes to finish a larger piece into (2) days. Both of these containers will have a sponge in them saturated with water. A large box can also serve the same purpose if the painting is really large and simply laid on the floor with a sponge in a dish underneath the box.

This is all about strategies and process. To quote myself....."Process is the breath of creativity." So it is very useful to sit down and think about the process of any type of art you might be creating. If the process is faulty, the results will be "iffy" at best. Changing a process involves looking at the areas where there is weakness. If color is the weak link, it is worthwhile to find out everything possible about color. It could also be technique or  materials.

I have yet to meet a successful artist who uses inferior materials. Cheap oil paints, watercolors, brushes, acrylics, and papers and other supports will not yield the same results. And that's exactly where I am in my process right now. I am examining every thing I use to make sure my results are the best they can be. And there you have it...just a few more things to think about.