Watching paint dry

I love the way things affect how you work, behave; how the things you learn become incorporated into your life. Having watched with fascination the documentary on Peter Howson the other week I have been constantly using his 'mirror check' when painting; I have used this before long ago but forgotten about it. Essentially, viewed in a mirror, your painting suddenly revels all of its errors in drawing in all their horrific glory - 'It's a horrible sight, sometimes', as Howson put it. I find that even taking a photo of the work and looking at it in reproduction works in a similar vein; it removes the image a level from the way you have been viewing it and shows what you can't see in 'reality'. With the picture I've been working on for the last couple of days, this meant a steady crawl from over-hasty, inaccurate drawing to something resembling what I wanted/needed to see.

Howson appeared again the other morning in my mind when I was reading my new charity shop copy of the Taschen book on Hieronymous Bosch (pardon spelling, didn't check); his Christ carrying the cross and another painting both share the wonderful 'direct stare' that Howson gave his St John Ogilvie in the commission for St Andrews Cathedral. One of the reasons I think both are so powerful is that stare, that totally engages the viewer and confronts with the figure observed.

Painting on canvas - 'real' canvas instead of pre-stretched, has been a learning curve and a joy. A challenge, maybe. Spent another few hours today watching it 'eat' paint and relayering on more to build up the depth and colour. Not sure how much of this is due to my ineffectual priming and how much is how 'it should be'; probably a combination of the two, but it is a very satisfying experience. Right now I'm wondering why I have stuck adamently to board for so long, but the answer is probably an unattractive combination of habit and lack of adventure... and stubbornness. The image above is a copy I did of the current stage with colour removed; interesting exercise in seeing how the tones are working; the wonders of computers.