If you are not a painter then it is likely that you have never wondered what it is like to commit yourself to starting a picture. Well: I’ll tell you what it is like.
The best metaphor I can think of came into my head this afternoon as I found myself in this situation. It is like preparing yourself to go head first off the ten metre diving board into the pool beneath. You know that (in theory) the water is deep enough to absorb your plunge, and you know that unless you are very careless indeed you are going to land in the pool. Even so …. !
I have decided to attempt to do a couple of pictures based upon memory, and in particular the recollection of a relationship I had with somebody many years ago. Striking out from my usual work in pastels, I have decided to do these in acrylic paint, on canvas, and working over a heavily textured background. I have done that kind of thing before (my pictures entitled The Fair Sister and The Dark Sister are done in these techniques). It is a relatively unfamiliar approach, however, and I am not sure whether it is this that causes me to be anxious about my ability to realise my idea, or the subject-matter.
The project comes as a stark contrast to the very conceptual approach I have been taking to work in recent months, as I am hoping that there will be an evidently emotional dimension to what I communicate. The image I want to develop is very clearly formed in my mind. The canvas is prepared, and a start has been made on the structural work with modelling paste. I’m on the diving board, and looking down at the pool, very far beneath …..