Despite the popular old saying, that this is not possible, today I demonstrated convincingly that it is not true. I have just finished an innovative new piece with which I’n rather pleased. (I think I qualify as an “old dog”.) It is based upon sections sawn through the trunk of an old laurel tree I removed from the garden earlier in the year. The shapes and subtle colours, and the textures of the sawn wood, caught my imagination. There are nine images in the series, and I’m considering mounting them all together in a single frame. There is an experimental quality about the medium as well. The basic work is done with egg tempera, but I’ve worked over this with watercolour pencils either to intensify some aspects of each image or to add subtlety to the colour. So at every level (subject-matter, medium, and presentation) this will certainly be an innovation for me.
I am looking forward to seeing it in its finished state, although I am full of trepidation about the framing process. I do have a large frame that would be ideally suited to recycling on this occasion. Professional picture-framers don’t like re-working items by other craftsmen, but I am really not sure I could produce a satisfactory result on my own. To commission an entirely new piece would be expensive. As there is no occasion on which I could exhibit it in the next few months I reckon I can let this one lie for a while.
Incidentally, this will be the last of my posts before Christmas. We are going to stay with one of my sons and his family, and consequently both preoccupied with other things and not engaged with much that would be relevant to the normal concerns of this blog. Can I wish a very Happy Christmas to all of you who do read my messages. I hope that you will have the kind of break you need, and when we all tune in again we will all be refreshed in body, mind and spirit.