Limiting my palette in order to develop a better understanding of color has led me to painting a series of small still life studies both in oil and in watercolor. During the cold, winter months I am more inclined to work in a warm studio than I am to paint outdoors as I did in my younger years.
As much as I love throwing the paint and pulling images out of the resulting patterns, I find myself wanting to introduce more layers of human interest in my work. The desire to portray more specific personalities, archetypes and situations requires developing greater drawing skills and brush manipulation. I am delving deeper into the understanding of color in order to portray more specific mood and atmospheric environment for the characters that evolve in the larger paintings.
At times I feel as if I am taking a giant step backwards. A part of me feels that by now I should have a solid understanding of all the elements of art and be able to simply paint with joy and expression. A greater part of me knows that the reason I continue to paint is because there will always be more for me to learn. I am never bored. I am never complacent. I am always challenged by the extent of what I don't see, don't understand and can't express.
However, I find it necessary, after struggling with the uninspiring realistic representation of a still life object, to treat myself to a bit of play, focusing on the elements of the object that delight me, making them dance through space, releasing them from their comatose state of reality.
The paintings in this series are tiny. The oil paintings are either 5" x 5" or 5" x 8", painted on gessoed, birch plywood. The watercolor paintings are about the same size with a few variations.
