Though I’ve been back to work, I’ve been driving myself batty. But what else is new? I’m extremely impatient with how long art takes, but it takes as long as it takes!

Oil paint. It takes forever to dry. And the way I apply it, it takes even longer. Some colors are worse than others. A particular pink I just used has been sitting for what seems like weeks. Every time I touch it to see if it has surface dried, I get a good amount of pink, gooky paste on my finger. Gah!

I can’t finish the King Baby triptych until that damn pink dries. Then, I’ll be able to finish it within the sitting without further waiting. It only needs the little yellow flower pedals inside the pink dress. I’m so close.

In the meantime, I’ve been making some sketches, and I painted a couple of watercolors. I’m not too enthused by them, though. I re-created the Turtle House (which is an oil painting), as a little watercolor. It’s only 6 x 6 inches.

I also made some kind of abstract thing. Not sure what it is. I guess I’m biding my time while paint dries.

Yup. 

I did apply some oil paint to the next two pieces in this series, but I used some of that pink I was talking about, so now those are wet too. I can’t exactly win.

I’m also working on two large gouaches. No, not collaborations. I’m not going to get into any personal details, but I decided not to continue collaborating with Niki. I think we created some amazing work, however. The few we completed are truly formidable, and I learned a ton. I probably would not have gotten so into gouache had it not been for them. I certainly wouldn’t have purchased a giant set of them! 

In a nutshell, the collaboration was taking my focus away from the work I’d rather be doing. It wasn’t easy to break up the band, so to speak, but I’m feeling better about moving forward now.

The last two gouaches I started (intending to give them to Niki to complete) will stay in my possession and take a different turn. I’m using them as a trajectory into the future abstracts that will be on (wooden) garment patterns. 

I’ve been messing with these, too, while waiting for paint to dry. These are more geometric and take a lot more time and focus. I tend to get meticulous while painting them. I’ve been this way since I started using this medium. My carefulness is part of the reason I needed to abandon the project. For me, I needed to put this very energy into what I was planning, as I was starting to feel my life flash before my eyes.  

Too many plans, as usual. The Discarded Snapshots series, new abstracts on wooden garment patterns, a future art book, and I want to make as many small watercolors as possible before October for the Open Studios Tour. I’ll be keeping busy.