The Self-Isolation Residency 10th April 2020: Day 12

I've had an interesting development with my current painting and it's one that feeds into my blog notes from yesterday. I am currently working white into the yellow areas of the painting to increase the opacity. As I mentioned yesterday I had considered starting another version of this painting today on a white ground to increase the luminosity and indeed I might still do that at some future time once I have a better idea of how this version is progressing. At the moment I'm actually quite happy about how this piece is progressing at the moment so it might turn out that this is actually the final piece in this project after all.

However that isn't the interesting development that I had in mind. What I am finding interesting is the particular part of the painting which I am currently working on. On the wall behind the easel is an object, it's not a painting; I'm actually but going to say exactly what it is at this point, if you know, you know. What I am interested in is the way that I've painted it and the way that it has become a painting within a painting. I am actually so taken with this 'image' that at some point soon, probably immediately after I finish this painting, I intend to work on a real version of this painting, probably to the scale it appears here or maybe slightly larger.

My interests within this happenstance are two-fold, the first I will explore immediately, the second I will explore on a future occasion as it will probably lead to a substantial essay in its own right. So the first point of interest is that this has happened and to some extent the timing of it happening today. Yesterday I mentioned that I can see a thread of connectivity linking all of my work for the last 25 years or more, often this is because I involve myself in long term project which I know from the beginning will grow and evolve as the work progresses. However. on other occasions , such as this, something will happen within a piece of work which will stimulate ideas for another piece of work. This may just lead to another single painting or may lead on to  a whole new series of work. This can actually be quite problematic at times, especially when you are already involved in an ongoing project. There are times when you are really involved in an in depth project only to be presented with a new idea which can take you off at a total tangent, which thread do you follow?

I guess in a way this also demonstrates how as artists we are like sponges,  that we absorb our ideas, constantly,  from all around us. Even from chances occurrences within our own work.