this was the repeat refrain on a 10 day meditation retreat I did a couple of years ago in Nepal
applies in all walks of life!
3 paintings in my studio this morning, stuck, frustrated, unresolved
so ‘start again’!
2 new canvases, 80cm square
3 layers, wet on wet, of contrasting colours, oil and cold wax medium
then some different powder pigments
I’ll go back to them later today or tomorrow, when they are drier but still tacky, and work ovee with a roller
and then start again
29th of December and another batch of family visitors head homewards. Husband and 2nd daughter, 2nd daughters puppy, Holly collie, and our 2 dogs head off to walk to the top of snowy Errigal, leaving me to grasp the moment in my studio
a detail of texture
and my shoes!
Monolithic, powerful, virile?
How were the standing stones viewed 5k years ago?
What was their symbolism?
I am intrigued by how the walls were built and if and how the stones were cut
I am fascinated by the field patterns of miles of parrallel walls still repeated today
Fanning out inwards from the coastal cliffs of Mayo
I am bowled over by the intricate plans and scale drawings, in red, made by the archeologists of Ceide Fields
More questions than answers, my personal response has to be with paint
More paint layers this morning, powder pigment, solvent, scraping, rolling;
not done yet though
end of my painting day
daylight fading
fire is out
3rd layer complete and the strong red finally hidden ( for now)
This is the final post on these 2 big stones paintings. I changed the shape of one of the stones because it was too symmetrical.
The two square 80cm canvases are moving along now with shapes revealing hesitantly
I sat for a bit in the clear upstairs space contemplating next moves accompanied by lovely shadows on the wall when the sun came out briefly
a bit more of the same but slightly different
the 2 big stones paintings (100cm x 80cm) are nearly done I think
and 2 more 80cm square ones started
this purple one has the beginnings of a wall in dawn or dusk colours
I wonder what a neolithic community woyld have made of a flame filled sky?
donegallizdoyle 