I have been working primarily on my center panel. I cannot believe I am completing a 4 foot egg tempera painting but it is happening. At some moments it feels unbearably slow but to see the slow building of tones and forms and complexity is extremely satisfying. The last few days I have been feeling so much energy and desire to paint and it feels great.
Here it is as of this afternoon:
Areas that are nearing satisfaction: the plant against the wall, the receding shadows, the tone of the sky.
Areas that require much work: all else, especially the figure, table, and window frame, which has no depth yet. There is a slow balance between building up a light, dropping it back, building up more, all to work with the translucence of the tempera. Here are a few detail shots to show how miniscule the brushwork is:
Each layer is built with hundreds or thousands of brush strokes. The many layers slowly begin to even eachother out. Here, especially in the second photo, the brushstrokes are shallow and sitting on the surface, but as I lay down more tone they will develop into a rich, subtly mottled surface area.
There are many areas of the painting which do not even exist yet, including the inside of the windows, all shadows and reflections, and the many small surface objects and clutter I have planned. Right now things are blocky and floating, but I hope that the painting will evolve past that soon.
Now, for the future plans:
I have confirmed both in my heart and with my landlord that I will be staying in Orono through the spring. There are a couple of reasons for this (feeling of contentment, community, apartment love, nothing better to do) but the number one reason is to continue with the body of work that this painting has spawned. I hope to work a nice job 20-30 hours a week (I am actively searching for this job!) and devote the rest of the time to the things I have floating around in my head. I will begin on several of those things this semester. I hope to have a nice small body of work together by the end of the spring (I would like to write a post soon about the various ideas I am mulling about). I will then head out west for a seasonal job with the intention of saving a good chunk of money, which I have done before. In the fall, a year from now, with a little money and a good portfolio, I will apply for residencies and other educational opportunities abroad, likely in Southern Europe, and use the opportunity to travel, live, and and work abroad for a few months to a few years, depending on what comes up. I feel extremely happy with this plan and it is the path I will aim for barring life changing events or massively awesome unexpected opportunities.
Mapping Joy 