New digs at Crossroads

I've been working on my new digs at Crossroads since Friday when it was deemed as "ready for Chuck". I had lots of Lorelle and Jenni help too. Like all new homes it has no personality yet....well that takes time. The Crossroads staff had already moved me out of my little gallery so things were leaned up against the walls, my favorite big vermillion ottoman at the entrance...still looking good.

It was missing a critical element all good rooms need....even a gallery. A key piece, a focal point, the statement that draws you in and holds a room together. Everyone is looking for important works of art to complete a room - now that I'm an artist I refer to them as "best wall paintings" and one of the reasons I paint. It was also the driving force to acquire this gallery space. I needed the space to show my work could hold a wall....any wall! 

Today I was no different from anyone else looking for a "best wall painting". I clearly needed one and it was never so apparent as when Lorelle was organizing and hanging paintings.

I headed home with a few rejects and picked up a few pieces. Most importantly, put my designer hat on to ponder......

You all know I've been fooling around with a large Progressions 2 painting....with the intention of showing it in my new gallery space, but it wasn't going to plan..........well most renovations don't! A small painting almost never works, but a large one such as this is another story. You have room to move around and solve design issues - in truth the possibilities are limitless. I frequently preferred renovation over new construction, because it's much more creative and the results rarely disappointing. 

I was working on the right panel, which I didn't want to paint, but the damn painting wanted a new addition and wouldn't let me alone until I got to it! Like anything, once you make the first move, your golden, and it was a great painting day because it was the right thing to do.

With my designer hat on and the artist locked away, I looked at this pile of canvas a bit different. What could I do with it and make it work? Otherwise, this room was going to fail and fail big! After a quick lunch, I decided to load it up wet or not, and get over to Crossroads. If this thing wasn't going to work I needed to know now! 

I still have 20 days before the regular every other month gallery opening. I could certainly make the artist paint a new one! If you believe in astrology signs, only a Gemini could pull that one off.....::=))

MY DESIGNER WAS GAME ON! 

Jenni met me at the door and we brought each panel in trying not to get wet paint on us. Leaning the (4) panels including the the standalone 730 against the (20) foot wall in sequence, but not together. Up to this point these were just big 60x48 paintings.

I put them together and Jenni took off for a distance view. As I turned around the jump factor was in process....::=)))))  

The designer was happy, he had his statement piece; all 16' of it! 

Being a good and proper designer, I kept the damn artist locked up and took all the hugs...LOL

With that we got to work - some progress photos...enjoy

Progressions (1) hung as I originally thought - frames butting each other

But, like all good and proper designers, we like changes too. The size and scale was on target - I'm not sure anything smaller would have worked especially after seeing the (4) panels together - I did remove the standalone 730 to see how (3) panels looked, but as I knew, it didn't work......meaning the artist still had some things to do and clearly whether he liked it or not, this painting was worth a bit more renovation! 

Because the gallery would be closed the following day, it was logical to finish the painting on site.  So Sunday the artist will be free again; however, the designer will be looking over his shoulder.....Gemini can do that too....::=)