So I have a large inventory of paintings. Some are good, some not so good. Large, small, framed, not framed, complete and also works in progress.
I have a private show, as it were, starting in January 2023. I need to fill wall space with about 60 paintings.
Time is on my side
Or so you would think! It's 5 months away. I want to display some new work. I will have to use some older stuff but I do want to create a few new series or collections.
I've not been really great with collections in the past. I have my Brickwork Series (5 paintings). A few paintings in my Strength Series.
What are collections/series?
Basically, it is a few pieces of art with a similar theme. The theme, I suppose, could be based on subject, colors, or style. A common thread that joins them together in some way.
Deciding on that common thread can be a challenge. My mind skips from one idea to the next. I tend to be hasty and start before I've thought things through. I will try to plan my steps a bit better. I'm going to record my thoughts and process/progress here.
Jotting down some ideas
Totally unplanned, I'm going to type what comes to mind.
Farm
Rural scenery
Fields
Barns and buildings
Green theme
Orange theme
Plein air
Bales
Sunrise
Sunset
Loose flowers
Totally abstract
Blue and orange
Leisure
Trees and river valley
Mountains
Black outline/stained glass/mosaic look
That's alot for now. If I were to pick one or two to start, hm how would I do that?
I feel like starting with some background colors. Oranges, yellows, browns. See where that takes me. So I grabbed some canvases and started painting some backgrounds. I wanted to stick to the same color scheme but still make each unique.
Okay, two done, for backgrounds I think. I'm not sure I care for the redish one with the crossover in the middle. I will work on that after it dries. Needs more fuzziness.
I covered over a painting I started a couple years ago with white gesso. It was just sky and grass, so no big loss. I'm waiting for the gesso to dry and then I'll get another similar background done.
Just start
That's my takeaway for today. If you hum and ha for too long, you start second guessing yourself. The thing is, if you are working with acrylic, if you don't like it you can just paint over it.
Get on that new series you've wanted to do. Don't wait any longer.
One thing I've learned in my month of retirement is that days have no names anymore. It's just another day. I've had to make myself think of it as Monday, or Friday, or whatever it is, because if I don't then the week will be gone and time will fly by. It may seem like you have all the time in the world, but you don't, really.
I don't know if you can tell the difference. I did change this background more to my liking. A blend of Golden Glazing medium and Golden fluid acrylic Nickel Azo Gold.
What to do with these backgrounds?
So I painted on the backgrounds. Not really planning, again, a mistake. Trees on one and a tree and wheat on the other. The third one ended up as some tendrils with poppies. Just whatever I felt like and what came off my brush. This was definitely not a thinking project!
So with some details added I still wanted to tone the whole thing down. Another coat of Glazing medium and Nickel Azo Gold.
Where did my plan go??
I don't know, for sure. All that planning I wanted to do went out the window. Does this happen to you? I'm sure it does.
Next round I am going to really make a decision as to what I want to show or display. I'm sure I will make changes to these three, but who knows?