Cité internationale des arts

I have been holed up in my studio flat for a few days now. Saturday, Sunday, Monday and now Tuesday. Occasionally, I have gone out to the grocery and last night I attended two performances here at the Cité but that is about it.

I am painting. I brought with me as many sheets of Arches oil painting paper as I could roll into a tube. I took another 5 sheets, and cut them in half for smaller works. So the half-baked images you see on the wall are each 22 x 30 inches. I feel like my start has been slow, but I also think that is okay. As you can tell from my previous posts I have spent some of my time going to exhibitions before they closed.

So, up to this point, things have been a little uptight as I dive back into my passion. I am warming up. Ultimately, I’m am aiming for this this work to become more visceral and perhaps wind up in some territory where things are a little more abstract. I will say that I predictably responded well to the Basquiat show in terms of sheer power and mark making, so we will see how that goes. As far as these three works go, they are all from outside of my own backyard in the States and have been on the back burner now for a while; they may stay that way. Nevertheless, I am using them as a bridge, something to practice and explore until the real work emerges. The fourth one that is on the board at the moment is more improvisational. It has been a little different painting on this paper. There is no primer, so things are slightly more absorbent at first. I am also fighting with the limited territory of my palette and the smaller tubes of paint. I expect to adjust.

As I get back at it in a little bit, let me simply issue a caveat; what you see in this post is likely to undergo revision, meaning that all of this work can end up sacrificed for what comes next. I’ll keep you posted. Au revoir.