Good Ideas Take Time.

Home again after a week's absence. We went to Saskatchewan for a family wedding, and enjoyed time with people we haven't seen in a while. It's funny what time away from the palette does to the mind. There wasn't a day when I wasn't thinking about painting, but being unable to paint can be very helpful. Several painting ideas seemed to take shape out of the creative whirlpool in my brain, and these are the ones I want to paint now that I am home again.

I am always rearranging my studio area, trying to find the best way to set up my paints so they don't get in the way of the other things I want to do in my large workspace. I like having several projects on the go (crafting, sewing, or just making room for the kids to create) but it's hard not letting the paintings take over. Right now I have three pieces spread out on the floor (a good place to look them over), and my treadmill, which is only used during the winter, is an informal filing cabinet of paintings, studies and abandoned attempts. I really need to categorize my work into "finals", "studies", and "try again on the b-side", but every time I do I find just a few weeks pass and the filing needs to start all over again.

One of the ideas emerging has been to paint some spare landscapes. "Spare" as in "open" and "simple". There's a beauty about the haze of wildfire smoke that hangs over the region. Beauty in dusk, when the colour is stripped from the landscape. Beauty in open, empty sky underlined by dale and field.

I completed one simple study of such a spare landscape last night. I want to use white gouache mixed with blue/grey to create an opaque mid-summer bleached sky. Still need to do some more experimenting to get the right mix. Questions and experiments that keep the brush moist and the palette awash with variegated puddles.