No Regrets – Stepping Forward on Blank Canvas

Yesterday, I posted about the bittersweet nature of this past year. I had intended to talk about letting go of old work I don’t like anymore and using those canvases to try something new. The idea came from an Instagram post reminding me that my undo-redo shortcut (Ctrl-Z), in regard to my painting is my bucket of Gesso.

This was called Day Moon over Happiness. It’s a title I’ve long forgotten the meaning of. I’ve come to realize that that disconnect with meaning should tell me something. All I remember is the laborious process of making it… layer after layer, building up the luminescence of the moon… It never looked right in my living room: it felt too bright. I put it in my daughter’s room, because she said she liked it, but she finally grew out of her pleaser phase and now doesn’t like it… she said it’s far from my best style of painting. I feel it could be a nice page in a children’s book, maybe.

Anyway, the time has come, my new studio space is set up, and I’ve gesso’d over it… I’ve been collecting images (on Pinterest) by Philip Guston. While I have yet to put my finger on exactly why it appeals to me, especially the weird stuff he’s done from the late 60s to 70s, I just love it and want to paint like that on this newly gessoed canvas. I came across an artist, Henryk Szydlowsky, I think on the Instagram page: heart.studio . It feels like a combination of Guston, Paul Klee, and Juan Miro. All artists I admire. I’m energized by this work and this is the direction I hope to accomplish with the new canvas… stay tuned…