Day seven: Started working at 5:00 AM. Finally stopped at 5:00 PM. I can’t paint another rock, make up another shade of blue, worry that the waves that are crashing in front might need more waves crashing in back. I’m exhausted! I am loving the stack of rocks on the left of the composition-the orange ones reflecting the sunlight, the veins of white drifting in and out of the rocks. I always wonder where these rocks come from, who puts them there. what machinery was used to move them into such big piles. The scale of the rocks against the distant background is one of my favorite things about this painting right now. Scale is what is creating the energy in this work. To draw the rocks, I make up a pile of goopy pulp and spoon it into my hand. Then I scoop it onto the surface and using a wooden skewer, I draw patterns into the surface with to create the vein affect. Works great! I love these artistic inventions-plastic spoons and wooden skewers become art materials.
Channeling Emily Carr: Raven, the title of one of my favorite paintings by Carr, a Canadian landscape artist, demonstrates the magic of scale. The Raven is so large, looming over the landscape, beak tilted toward the sky. Majestic, just like the Canadian landscape Carr was inspired by.
