Painting #9 (final)

Painting #9 of 9        (30" x 31 1/4")

Details:

I continue to figure things out. They are entirely situational (and self-seducing). The process boils down to chasing a series of subjective visual hooks that I eventually blunt, obscure or eliminate..

While each painting has illuminated an aspect of what I want to do, I really am beginning to like doing them. I enjoy it as a practice, something I can do daily with the simple goal of moving on to the next one...and finally...to have a completed painting require the next one.

View preliminary states and comments below the break.
  State #1

State #2

State #3

State #4    (this one is going badly)

State #5

State #6

State #7

State #8

State #9 (almost done)

The preliminary states serve a couple of purposes. In addition to providing the ground for the painting, they also give me the opportunity to start thinking about the picture plane. Through drawing with brush and oil pastel, I can begin to "organize" the composition by compressing and concentrating areas of the canvas; essentially opening and closing parts of the picture.