It’s Not What You Think, no. 4, 60″ x 108″, oil & collage on canvas
The most frequent question I get is “what is your inspiration?” My usual answer is “painting”, or “the paintings”. This morning I had an immediate experience of that. I went into my studio as I usually do (I am a morning person, always have been) planning to put in some productive work time. But I felt lethargic, uninspired, uninterested. I sat down with a cup of tea anyway, yet thinking I might as well go upstairs and play ball with my pup, Romeo. But I was, in truth, feeling too lazy to get up. So I just kept looking at the paintings around me.
Then I saw what a specific painting probably needed to make it sing, didn’t feel like waiting until tomorrow so started working on that before going upstairs. And before I knew it, a few hours had gone by as well as lots of time painting. It was a good experience. If I had given in to my apparent lack of inspiration, I would have missed out. So Romeo had to wait.
I will have to wait until tomorrow to see what the work really looks like. I have discovered it does take time for paintings to settle. What often looks really good when fresh, does not hold up with time. Or even might look better. Tomorrow.