I have begun to sort through my store of pictures bearing in mind the fairly busy summer of exhibitions ahead. If I come across something that looks as if it might merit more attention I take it off my storage racks, unwrap it, and put to somewhere I can look at it at my leisure. Sometimes things I have not even got around to framing receive this treatment, and every now and then I come across something that actually annoys or puzzles me, because I want to find out for myself just what was the problem.
That has happened this week. I have been doing a series of paintings to which I have given the provisional general title “Beyond”. Some of these have attracted favourable comment in the past, and I have sold one of them. The theme has never been used as the title of an exhibition. Some of the pieces I have felt are really rather weak, or lack the coherence I would like to find in a finished picture. For several days now I have had pinned to the board in my studio two of these, just with the intention od seeing whether or not there might be something salvageable here. My expectations, frankly, were not very high.
This morning, however, I was sitting at the computer when my wife came in to talk to me about something. I turned round, and at that moment caught sight of one of the dubious pictures. Just then I noticed that a small shaft of sunlight had caught and illuminated a small segment of it, altering the balance of the composition, increasing the sense of spatial depth, and giving an atmosphere to it which had previously been totally lacking. So, this afternoon I put the piece in question on the easel, and took out a box of pastels. Attempting to reproduce that entirely accidental change to the appearance of the piece I have been both intrigued and gratified. I’m not completely confident that we are there yet, but my appreciation of the picture has been altered substantially.
I am not sure why it should have been the case that the hours of puzzled attention I have given to this piece in the past failed to locate the problem, and suggest a remedy. On this occasion, however, a moment of complete serendipity has served to identify what I hope will turn out to be a very useful diagnosis. We shall see.