Some you win…
One can’t be too precious when one is skint.
Re-stretch
Sometimes paintings don’t work out - in my case, most of the time! And when short of cash and needing to stretch new canvases for emerging ideas, one has to be ruthless. Two large pieces above from the ‘Carte Vista’ series are now technically retired - taken off their wooden stretchers, rolled up and stored away. It’s a salient reminder that one must keep going with a painting and not spend too much time away as ideas invariably evolve and old, unfinished work is often left behind. The ‘Menagerie’ piece was somewhat over-painted on the lady’s face anyhow.
I learnt a lot of course and I enjoyed the challenge but it’s time to move on and they’ve already been re-stretched and primed for new work to begin.
I’ve used canvas (not French linen as it’s very expensive) and Rabbit Skin Glued them with two oil primer layers. Now dry and beautifully taut and smooth, and in the absence of Chinese Vermillion (highly toxic and crazily expensive), I’ve used Cadmium Red Light as a base for a new piece of work, ‘Chinese Tapestry’ which I’m already formulating ideas for. The other one I’m aiming to use as a second part of the Chinese diptych or as another tapestry, this time based on Saudi Arabia. Watch this space.