Here’s a photo of a work in progress! It’s gone through a lot of drastic changes since I first made the panel, perhaps a decade ago. I’m adopting a painting strategy of “beginning before I’m ready.” I feel like there’s a quantum effect with paintings, when they come together – sometimes after years of sitting in the basement behind stacks of other abandoned paintings. It’s a weird, paradoxical combination of “killing your darlings” and never giving up. The celestial background was created with a mix of acrylic and watercolor techniques and the reckless abandon of not worrying about the surface having a smooth finish. There’s plenty of brushstrokes layered on top of each other, with the top coat hiding a bunch of previous paintings and random bits of dust and tiny wood particles trapped deep in the finish. The more layers are added, the more it becomes like archaeology.
I have some additional features in mind that may change this image drastically.