Speed the decades

Okay, I know the ageing thing happens to us all, we grow weird hair and double chins, memory becomes erratic and things hurt more than before; but there are good things too...

One of the things I love about getting a little more mature is knowing what I do and don't like; it has taken me four decades, but now I know which washing powder I hate the smell of and makes me itch (Persil -Ha!) and what juice is insipid and worthless as a breakfast pick-me-up. What I didn't realise until it happened was that for the four previous decades (or at least two of them, when choice was mine) I bought things willy nilly without any idea of preference, and somehow never managed to remember which things I had already tried and dismissed as unsatisfactory for whatever reason. The same is pretty much true of fashion for me; it has only been worryingly recently that I have realised to what degree different shapes of clothing affect the outline of my body - ie: what makes my bum look large and lumpy and what sweeps flatteringly over it. It is a shame that we have to learn these things so slowly.. or would it just have been wasted on our younger, impatient selves?

Painting has been a similar experience; I used to be bored in major galleries until I found the Modernists; all the older masters seemed like so many ruff-wearing, angst ridden figures in unnatural positions. I have a horrible feeling that had I stood before Gericault's 'Raft of the Medusa' aged 18, I would have done that 'so what?' face... I'm sure I would have actively steered clear of Goya, because it is only in my fifth decade that I have 'discovered' the wonders of many of the major works that I now long to travel the world to view. Goya is a prime example because it is actually only this week and only via the technology that is the laptop that I have become aquainted with his 'Black paintings' including the very lovely 'Saturn devouring his son' and the 'Witches Sabbath'. Now of course he is added to my list of painters to track down in 'real life' - oh no, a trip to Madrid? Think I quite fancy that somehow; he will have to join the queue though, I am still dying to see the Bruegel room in Vienna and various museums in le Sud de France.
And, and, and....


Feeling fully recovered after my close brush with the debt creating money grabbing immoral toxic waste that are the bankers yesterday; not that I'm bitter.. that is another thing to add to the amazing list of things that I learn only at a certain age - banking establishments are not our friends, no matter how many leaflets they produce stating the contrary. But I digress.
Framed up my last finished pic of the Engel Flusterer, with the double frame including the inner 'slip'. I do really love it especially as the outer frame is 'distressed' and so the effect works really well - the inner slip in white and the outer in a kind of off-creamy colour with scuff marks. Suits the painting really well. This of course presents a small dilemma as this is far more expensive than the framing I have opted for previously. Half of me wants to go with the best possible presentation for my images, half is the cynical view that, if my aim is to sell them, odds are the new owner will be none the wiser and perfectly happy with a less money consuming frame.
A compromise will be arrived at I feel sure, and probably coming down on the less cost effective side as I would hate to send my babies into the world badly dressed!
Spending Saturday afternoon painting at Ritchie's gallery which will be fun again; I like picking up little ideas from another painter - last time I came away and started painting with totally different blues, just because I borrowed a tube from him. They weren't even the colours I borrowed, but the act of moving outside my paint comfort zone freed me up to try some new combinations. Now whenever I buy paint I let Stu have a pic of a new colour to shake things up, like adding a random element to my palate. Still haven't found a use for green-gold though.