Stepping back

2014 is to be my breakaway year from my norm. We're in the 4th quarter.... might be a good idea to step back and review my progress.....if any! The truth of the matter, I need some indication I'm on the right track. My last painting, 924 (not a repaint), did reach a mark and I would say a departure point.

924 AIR 72x56 oil on linen (9-6-14)

The last few days find me varnishing and framing 3 months work... 26 paintings done over the summer. Nice thing about varnishing, it gives you a fresh look.

• I started the year with the idea of adding figures, as in nudes, to my playbook that ended with 899 and a jar of gesso!
• February thru March was interrupted by some commission work plus back to norm paintings
• April and May, Migration, a large 3-panel representational painting about size. However representational + size = mural....perhaps!
• End of May, back on track with gessoed canvas 899 and less is more thinking - simple compositions and some gold leaf and a little Photoshop help for other works.
• July 2nd, modification canvas 899 and retreated back to safe haven, my norm....but was it? I think it was better than norm, because less-is-more was applied?
• August 3rd, and last modification of canvas 899 and my retreat ended with a Lily painting... 919...all about light.
•  Canvas 899 was, as it turned out, experimental and a pivotal painting. I knew after the 3rd modification of 899, the 2nd modification had something that worked....just had to remove a silly Koi which messed it up....thank my stars for good record keeping with images, it was not totally lost.
• End of August, the start of AIR; the idea formed with 899 and my retreats which I think produced some very strong works. 
• September, within 2 weeks I produced (7) AIR paintings; (2) were studies and (2) repaints (not necessarily AIR paintings) - what this suggested to me.......I had a plan!

Nine months of history was available for study and it revealed (again) a natural process working, chipping away at an idea that had no defined boundaries other than change itself. Imagine yourself a ping pong ball bouncing from side to side by the same player....you! Taking new information to the other side each time and applying it and returning new information back. This could be a fast game or slow game. I was looking at the ball as a retreat play and the return, just that, another swing at change. I now believe it was the wrong way to look at it. It was actually inter-related positive moves on each side. In the past it was always about raising the bar, getting better.... not literally a direction change I had in mind. My mechanism was always changing subjects....stopping only when I got a good one. I had no idea this would also happen with "change", nor that it would also improve each side in the process... but it did. It was obvious in my review bullets above and my thumbnail history. I was progressing on two fronts. There seems to be a correlation here to quantum physics or something like it. All I have to do going forward is stop when I hit a good one! That simply means I took it as far as I could and I needed a break and more energy on the return ball.

I want to know how all this looks on walls.... how they visually work together as a group......that's what I'm doing now at my Crossroads gallery; putting it all together for a little look see...:=)