This piece is proving quite problematic hence so many studies, I've not been totally convinced about the square format so trying something a little different here; I think this may solve some of the problems. 

As the premise of this painting draws heavily on the technique of watercolour I decided to try producing a few studies for it in that medium. It has turned out to be an interesting and instructive experiment as although the techniques have a family resemblance that are in actuality mirror images of each other which has caused me to think in even more depth about the whole notion of the piece. Not rethink it, think about it in greater depth.  

A very sad reason for a little bit of 'Vinyl  Heaven' in memory of the late Dusty Hill; I do have CDs but it seemed more appropriate to listen to the sounds of a certain era the way I first heard them. Safe travels. 

'On my easel' is a series of posts that I am adding to the Self-Isolation Residency Blog which will consider a current painting which is within days or sometimes hours of completion. This isn't quite the same as 'work in progress' as many of the pieces under consideration in this category may actually be complete already. These are generally going to be works which I am reflecting on for one reason or another and it is these needs for reflection which are preventing me from 'accepting' the work as complete.'

'Perturbations II' working title.

I'm sure I've said this before but I really feel like I'm starting to get somewhere significant with my work. I nearly said my 'new' work but as it's all really part of the same process I'm not sure it's so much new as ongoing.

"Painting by Subtraction."

I say painting but in many ways this process feels like drawing as large parts of the image are formed by allowing the (back)ground colour to not only be visible but significantly so. It's a technique which has evolved over the course of 'The Self  Isolation  Residency', although in many ways it can be argued that it owes its origins to when I first started painting on to a 'black' ground rather than a white one. it also owes a serious 'nod' to the principles of traditional watercolour painting where the white of the paper creates the 'light ' of the image as I do the darkness here. 

Today I have introduced White for the first time in this painting, albeit mixed with Yellow Ochre to form a paler, almost Naples Yellow. It is my intention to work with some pure white in the final phase of the piece, I will however live with this tonality until it is dry before I make my final decision. 

As my exploration of the Void/Sublime continues I am constantly worried by any potential figurative nature with I allow to enter the painted spaces. Presently I am experimenting with simple, although still anthropomorphic forms, human figures and monoliths, or rather the shadows, or more accurately, the perturbations which they cast into the Void. However the extremities which such forms exhibit still feel uncomfortable to me. I have therefore began work on sketches for a new painting, with the same derivation but with what I hope will embody more infinite properties.