After taking a break yesterday, for my regular rock-climbing expedition, today has been spent largely forging ahead with the sorting and storage of my work. It is turning out to be one of those tasks where the distance between the finish and where you are now remains constant, regardless of how much energy is expended on it. The trouble is that I keep discovering refinements to the process which would certainly improve the end product …. it is just that they never featured in the initial calculation of how much time and effort I was going to require. If I had thought about it carefully in advance I would have weeded my archive drawers first, creating space in which to store items I don’t actually want to trow away, but which have no likely prospect of future exhibition. Ah well!
The sorting/weeding process has its interest. I am seeing a number of things in a new light. For example, the earliest theme of my painting had to do with climbers and climbing. Looking back on this material I realise that other artists dealing with this theme would have prioritised the sense of effort and energy involved in climbing. My climbers, on the other hand, are typically almost resting on the rock, our embracing it. I think that this is a genuinely interesting insight, as instead of depicting climbers as fighting against the material I manage to suggest a close identification with it.
Ah well keep at it!