Chill Start

Painting on canvas today; canvas that I bought as a piece, not all ready stretched and whitewashed. Lovingly stapled and pulled over a frame, coated and coated again with primer; rough-sketched with a big chunky pencil. Over sketched with a purply-blue because I love when tiny bits of it show through in the end; filled in base colours in blocky areas loving the way the canvas 'gives' and has quirks and bumps to it. Break out the new 'long flat' brush in a whole two sizes bigger than the one I usually use and start to stroke on areas of further tones, not yet on the full colour but kind of dazey hazey gray and blue shades.

Thats where I am right now; hoody and scarf on, snuggled at the easel in the studio; dark already stained the windows black and little street lights all that is showing outside - no movement under them. This is New Years Day and all but the foolhardy jumpers-into-cold-waterers and cold-hill-climby-striderers will be tucked up in gowns on sofas, nursing the slowly melting hangover and wondering if the resolutions start now or whether they can be negociated in the morning.?

Its a good evening for painting; I am playing through the pile of CDs on the top of the player, which are the ones we have bought most recently, prior to putting them away in their correct alphabetical postion. This year we calculate that we may be 40 albums down in our collection due to the budget restraints enforced in the name of survival. Usually we find new band, buy one album; like it - buy the rest. Can get expensive if there is a reasonable sized back catalogue involved.. Hoping that we get to make up some of the backlog in the next year; there's so much out there. Somewhere post lunch and pre-dinner, cats wandering, Stu snoozing, music playing and worries away at least temporarily; new canvas on the easel and a full palette to use up on a freshly started painting; a peaceful place to be.