Start ... to Finish... "Patience"... is on my side!

I am currently back hard at work on the four by eight foot mural project in acrylics of Zavikon Island. Time seems to heal all things... and "Patience"... is indeed a virtue. The shoulder and neck problems are all but gone and I decided to work on the upper areas of the mural which allowed me to paint in  a more normal painting posture.

Here is a close up of one area on the upper left of the panel where I have spent a single session resolving it to a reasonable state of finish. I call this strategy "spotting"... working around the whole surface area rather than working top to bottom... or left to right. This insures better colour and value harmony uniformly across the grid as one progresses.

This image shows the current state of finish... as I close in on finishing work and a conclusion to the project.

I more carefully plan my daily work and work in shorter sessions. The heat and humidity really plays havoc with the speed of drying... and therefore the ability to blend colours successfully. I have used my usual rapid attack methods from my oil painting method and it seems to work at this point.

I am obsessive-compulsive by nature... driven by impulse and a trial-and-error approach to many of my tasks and decisions. But life has taught me to slow down and to measure my step more carefully. More often than not, reflection and rest provide more productive results than fumbling about... and guessing. These strategies bridle that impulsivity and reduce failure and cul-du-sacs.

Patience...

Now back to "Patience". Patience has a double-entendre value in the post.... introduced by the wily intervention of the unpredictable Universe.

I was contacted a week or so ago by a Marietta Gregg in a lovely... but totally unexpected email. I am normally very wary about such online contacts because they can in fact bring one much grief. However... the contents intrigued me to the point of actually leading me to conduct a Google search to better educate myself about this mystery woman and her motives for choosing to contact me.

She  had introduced herself as the Marketing Director at Patience Brewster. Further to that information... she related openly to me that Patience Brewster was her artist-mother... a highly successful designer and creator of handmade and handcrafted unique gifts and ornaments.

She invited me to explore further her reasons for reaching out to me on behalf of herself and her mother's company... by visiting her mother's website www.patiencebrewster.com  ... her blog.  Check out the Christmas Ornaments

Upon visiting these... I felt reassured enough to contact Marietta directly to pose the question: "How can I serve you and your project? And what cache might I bring to you... that you don't already have?"

She revealed that she had actually stumbled across my blog and was drawn to its transparent nature and willingness to reach out and share with other artists. Using their Artist Appreciation Month initiative, they seek to spotlight artists who share goals and the passion for creating in their site to link ideas with other artists and their clients.

 She has since sent me a series of five very pointed questions to both celebrate my work... and to learn more about what fuels my passion to create. In my next post, I hope to answer these questions and I will share them with you here. As usual... my creative process and my thinking are the productive of "Two Voices".

Stay tuned... back to the mural!

Good Painting!... and Happy Fall to everyone!!!