the makings of a painting. part 1.

It has been a WEEK in my studio, working away at new commission pieces, running admin with my clients, mailing, prepping, and packing up to do it all again the next day. After a slow start to 2021 in honor of taking care of myself, we are back at it. To celebrate a return to the studio in a big way, let’s walk through how my paintings come to be, together.

Come on in & let me show you around.

It’s during my lunch break from work on January and my phone goes off. It’s a good friend of mine. A photo of a staged painting of a mountain range shows up on my screen followed by “do you think you could paint something like that?”. This, for me, is the best moment of all. As soon as I open the photo, images start flashing in my mind. My favorite ranges, paintings I’ve seen, paintings I’ve done, rooms and sizes and papers and - questions.

“Yeah totally I can!”

Can I? I mean, I haven’t really done anything like this before. It’s going to have to be big. Can I paint big? How? What will it cost? How much time will it take?

Mostly - what if it doesn’t work?

“Yeah totally I can!”

It’s one of my favorite people, someone I’ve known since I was 16. Someone I grew up with, from teenagers with no idea what our lives would look like to adults with adult jobs, and adult homes, and adult relationships. And baby dogs, but that is beside the point. The most important question of all follows - why not?

There is a safeness that sinks in, when working with someone who really knows you. A safeness that instills confidence. That makes risk taking possible. That tames the nerves. That understands the human element of the work. Being hired by someone you know is, to me, the greatest compliment - they see you, not only for you, but for the work that you do.

(Terrance - if you’re reading this, I always knew what I was doing. Never a doubt in my mind. Alllll under control. Not terrified whatsoever. Definitely did not confidently exclaim I could do it without thinking about if I could actually do it.)

And so, we got to work. It was settled - I could, and would, do it.

I strolled through the tight aisles of my local materials store, seeking out sizes that would work for the project we were going for. I needed big, and watercolor - two aspects that are not always synonymous. A canvas - that is going to work. How do I make canvas work for watercolor? Watercolor canvas? Too expensive, and hard to source.

Ah - Watercolor Ground. What is Watercolor Ground? In short, Watercolor Ground is applied to a surface as almost a makeshift layer of paper. It acts as a textured comparable to watercolor paper, in my experience. I propped up the largest canvas I had ever handled against the wall in my studio, and J and I took palette knives, spreading the ground and trying not to freak out at the gravity of the situation, being the very large financial investment in the materials, if it did not work out or we did a shit job.

The next morning, I walked in to the studio, and there she was. We did not, in fact, do a shit job.

She was perfect.

Now, time to hesitate some more.

To be continued.