Friday, November 20, 2009

Making Art

This morning around 1:15 a.m. I created another oil pastel in the...I don't have a name for it...series of paintings. I guess if I had to name it something I would call it "Spaces" series of paintings. The one I created this morning was called "Brown" and focused on land. A few days ago, I painted "Blue" which focused on water. Before that I did "Red" which focused on an abstract box painting with a sub painting beneath it that looks like memories of New Mexico.

Each of these three paintings has a main painting and sub painting beneath the main one on the same sheet of paper. I'm using oil pastels exclusively for this series because I can paint faster with them. I apply the oil pastel to the paper and then blend them with my fingers, hand, rags or sponges to get an effect. I never know exactly what I'll get when I use oil pastels because what I put down on paper is not what stays once I blend and rub the colors in. I like this effect and I like not knowing exactly what will happen because I like painting this way.

I was up late because I took a 4 hour nap yesterday afternoon in hopes of going to see the movie "New Moon". I went to the theater here in Jackson around 11:30 p.m. but all the theaters (the movie was being shown in 4) were all sold out. So, I came home and made use of my time by watching TV, listening to music, sorting things to go to good will, taking out the trash and painting.

I have no idea what color to go for next. My series of paintings are very short. Maybe I'll do green and then orange...does green really have to be land? Does orange really have to be fire? Aren't these too predictable and safe?

I'm off work and my back is still hurting. It hurts when I stand or sit or walk. I've been doing a lot of sleeping. Being in bed seems to give me some relief.