C-19 and focus = Collections

She's my interrupter these days, Scarlet will leave me alone if I'm at the easel, both poodles take naps.... otherwise they would drive me insane with that darn pink ball!

Most of my Koi paintings, the Koi were the stars on my canvas. Basically portraits in settings.  The Singular Focus Collection started late December of 2014 produce 22 consecutive large canvases over a four-month period. All were overhead views of Koi and lilies from my black bottom deck pond. all on dark backgrounds. The clear water on black make fish standout as sharp light and shadow images floating in space. Painting what was there. However, a huge departure from previous work. Because of a very simple dark background lilies became equal players with my Koi.

 The largest canvas of the collection

 

This 66x60 canvas hangs in my studio, the 5th and solidified the concept. Smaller canvas seems not to work well so only two 30x30 and three 36x36 canvas were painted, rest large and none since. 

Again, at the end of 2016 in November I wanted to explore the concept with a lighter colour background with no lilies, Singular Focus 2.... Well, it produces three canvases, by the 3rd my focus was interrupted doing demos and coaching other artists weekends at Crossroads. Eventually called SIP - swimming-in-paint. I thought I could do both but, in the end only individual paintings worked. The silver lining, I really got good at finished demos, and not small ones either.

The first canvas of three

I think if time allowed, this 44x48 canvas back in 2016 had potential because it introduced reflections. A painting that hangs in my studio over my desk also. It is a reminder, why uninterrupted time and focus is necessary if developing a concept collection to conclusion. 

Since there were many small groups of 3 to 5 related paintings that easily could be regrouped as collections with some continuity. One was my Mer Creatures developed over a period and eventually formed a collection, Under Crashing Waves. Conceptually, if there were females, we need males.... The romance of that idea was an interesting thing to explore a bit on canvas. All together it took 17 canvas to bring a conclusion to the collection with these two paintings.

I often wonder what the collection would have looked like with total dedicated focus. The first painting "The Guardian" demonstrates a more primal environment!

So, there you have it! We are in the first quarter of 2020 with forced isolation worldwide with C-19. I now look at it as a silver lining, a gift, an opportunity to embrace the quite time it brought. As an artist, it reintroduced an energy for change and exploration of my craft as an oil painter.

SIPSwimming-in-Paint