New wanderings (isn't this a given, now?)

Two new works on paper, 38" x 50" each

    I finished these two new works on paper a couple of days ago. They're an effort at seeing how some of my newish ideas might work out on a larger scale as paintings. I'm feeling confident about how some of this is turning out. If these were already paintings, I would have made them denser with imagery and pushed some of the formal relationships further. There would be more layers, for sure. As they stand, I'm feeling good about the way things seem to be developing. I particularly like how the one with the overlapping blue fields turned out. I won't be able to reproduce it as a painting, but I'm hoping to retain some aspect of the warm colors filtering through the cooler colors on top, if I choose to make a painting out of this idea. I feel like I'm getting closer to a name for these hard-edged, yet flexible forms I'm using. I'm also doing some related research that I hope will help my tie together some conceptual ideas running around in my head. I'm heading towards a need to revamp my general artist statement and am trying to get enough information to formulate a more solid basis for this new direction. 

    Today started off with an early (for me) morning with jury duty. Of course I had too little sleep last night and have been a walking cloud of drowsiness all day. Anyway, I got to City Hall, went through the jury panel selection part, made it to a court room and was dismissed, thankfully. My jury summons had me reporting to City Hall instead of the Criminal Justice Building which almost always means that you're going to sit on a civil case, if chosen. I got lucky and had a high juror number, so the judge and lawyers in the case found their jurors well before my number would have been called. 

    So, I have my jury duty work "excuse" sheet. Since I work for myself, to whom do yell at for missing work time, even though I have a valid excuse? ;)

    Afterwards, I stopped by Artist & Craftsman Supply to pick up some canvas, gesso and a pack of six 9" x 12 panels. I'm in the middle of working on several small paintings begun earlier this week, but I'm thinking that this afternoon and evening will be a good time to stretch at least a couple of new larger canvases. 

TM