Flat, White, with a Little Grit

This is my preference, or should I say my usual "tabula rasa;" my clean slate. This is where most of my work begins. A sheet of newsprint paper, watercolor paper or a primed canvas. Now mind you, at any given moment, I might have a concept in my head regarding what I'm aiming for, or my head may be as blank as that surface, but the act of creation becomes it's own inspiration. Once I place the black of a stick of charcoal, the blue, orange, red, green, or heaven forbid, yellow, on that surface, choice, after, choice, after choice are made! And the direction, the path is laid out before me!

Thought for The Day - Follow the Direction of Random Order

Glorious Mistakes!

Unexpected Errors!

Joyful Calamities!

And yet we survive and dare I say, WE THRIVE!!! In the beginning stages of this painting, I had in mind to put a little blue in various areas. I had an original vision for this painting and yet, I know I have to leave room for surprises. Sometimes, they occur as I'm in mid-stroke, about to apply an expected color to the canvas. In this case, as I said, I felt like I needed a touch of blue here and there, so I cleaned out my brush and reloaded it with a mix of cerulean blue and French ultramarine blue. And since I like the way paint moves around when blended with oil, I added it to the colors. I applied it in the places where they needed to be and concluded my time of painting. I came back the next day and each spot where blue was applied, the paint ran! It just dripped down; completely unexpected!

There are times when you can't do anything but laugh, though other calamities are no laughing matter. Well this was one of those moments where laughter was the perfect response.To remove the color, I would smear it into the colors beneath it, so the drips had to remain. I also lifted my head and said: "well Lord, whatever you have in mind, Thank You!" I have continued to work around the errors, finding new ways to cover them. And doing so, I think the outcome is better than my original idea for the painting.