Or in other words, painting. Yes, it is wonderful to be actually painting again after so many interruptions. The things I have been doing have been supportive of my painting, I suppose, but there is nothing like the activity itself. I have begun a piece that takes me back, technically, to the kind of thing I was doing with the “Presente!” series, about Italian experience during he Great War. I’m doing a kind of collage on canvas, with a heavily textured base made with texture gel, onto with I’ve been applying a variety of materials to develop different surfaces–sand, paper, string, cotton wool and glue so far. I will be working over the whole with acrylic paint. It is enormously enjoyable and totally absorbing.
The finished product I expect to entitle Norwegian Wood, after the Beatles’ song. The idea is based on an area of pine bark (hence the heavy texture) which is cut open to reveal a dimly-perceived face inside. The story behind it is rather long, but the short version is that it remembers a close friend who many years ago lived in Norway. The really tricky bit will be the faintly-depicted portrait. Still, I do like a challenge.