Lean It On The Wall

by Cooper on 11/11/2009 12:12:15 PMComment on this

Greetings,

Welcome to the Cooper studio, Jefferson, Iowa, where we are being blessed with another gorgeous autumn day.

Some of you may be wondering about the title of this post, Lean It On The Wall. Actually, I consider "leaning it on the wall" to be an integral part of the bag of tricks available to me, as a painter.

I find it helpful in any case, and essential in the case where the painting is on a larger canvas.

Take the current easel occupant, for instance. It's a 40 x 40 inch canvas. I have been planning it since April of 2007, drawing it in various situations since then, and finally putting it's paint on it's canvas, starting about 2 weeks ago. (Should I apologize about that April 2007 date? You're right, but some things just take a little longer than others.) But you get the picture---I can see this one in my sleep. When you know something that well, I think it's easy to "visually read" between the lines. Did I put that line in right, or did I just think I did? Surely that little dark place behind her arm is dark enough, or wait---is it? Have I just made it darker so many times that my mind won't even consider that it's not dark enough?

So, today, it gets to hop down off the easel, and find a bare space of wall to lean on. I know other artists who turn their paintings to face the wall, possibly out-of-sight-out-of-mind for a while? I prefer that they look at me, and I look at them. Every now and then catching something from a different angle will suggest an additional brush stroke.

I suppose I should share a photo of it's progress to date, oh, and it had a title way back when the idea first happened in 2007. It's Friend.

That's it for now, we'll see what transpires as it leans on the wall for a few days. Thanks for stopping by!

Later, Cooper

Ps: post scripts may be written in red, surely? I had occasion to read back through some of my notes about this painting---apparently it consumed my thought processes in that space of time. Just letting you know, others have voted yes on the whole timeline, including the outcome. The painting has been selected for Galex 44, and will be hanging in said exhibit beginning 3/13/2010 for about a month.