In the garden today.
Which was quite spontaneous, but felt right.
I was drawn completely and utterly to the sky today in this painting. That was the thing that drew all of my attention, save perhaps a mark or two.
It feels slightly odd saying my attention was only on the sky though, because it is all so interconnected, in the way that I experience it, that haven’t just been painting the sky, but the whole view, my feelings and the sounds I could hear. I’m not sure I can separate elements. That links to phenomenology and also ecology theory, all of that stuff.
This series of painting seem to be hinting at: the entanglement of experience with nature, or nature with nature, or experience with experience. Neither nature nor experience (or anything) can be seperated, can be picked apart to form neat shapes, neat rows. It is all tangled. That is how we experience the world, and therefore how we percieve it to be ordered. As one whole. The whole Earth. Getting a bit hippy dippy here! I feel there is much more to be read on this, which will expand my thinking and perhaps help me understand my own paintings better. I have made, made, made, with this series. Not really thinking, not desinging, not planning. And that is what I needed. And now, I get to explore the paintings, in heindsight. Explore their meaning, for me, in arts context, in arts history context, in the their entire context, in space context. Playing with them essentially. I can’t wait to 😁.
I ran out of white paint three-quarters of the way through, so I am going to go and get some more paint to continue working on it tomorrow. It feels somehow fitting that the garden is where I spent most time in, during lockdown, therefore it would take me longer to paint than the rest of the locations in this series.
Things I want to do better when I do another painting series like this:
- Bring a thinner brush with me – there have been times when I have wanted to make some fine, delicate, careful lines on the canvas. But the smallest brush I had with me was still wider than my thumb! I wouldn’t want to have too many of these fine brushes with me, or begin to rely on them for making lots of marks, because they are teeny in relation to the size of the canvas.
- Bring a sketchbook with me when out painting!!!! – It’s kind of a shocker I haven’t! There have been lots of time when I’ve been out painting and had an idea, which I wanted to write down to not forget. And I haven’t been able to! Now I cannot recall those ideas at all. Due to my phone being the timelapse camera, that isn’t an option. I must make sure to bring it with me in the future.
You know what was really nice about painting in my garden? No people walking past! I do really like chatting to people a lot of the time. But since I have been doing so much of this painting, the people always walking past thing has become more intense. In my garden I could sing out loud! And stand right back from the painting without getting in anyones way. It was great.
So was painting on patio instead of mud or leaves! Ah, this last location has certainly been easier! No carrying the canvas to and fro much either. Woohoo!
Saying that, yes, this is my last location. Number 8. I felt, well, done. It’s a feeling, not a practical thing. It feels weird saying I’m done though, because I’m not really; I still need to finish todays canvas.
Ooo: it’s going to be interesting seeing how the finish painting correlates with the ink drawings I did in the garden last spring. Can’t wait to see!
Georgina Harris 