Wednesday means my weekly art group meeting, Art Support, and I traced out a half-size outline for the second picture in my "love" series.
My method for transferring drawings from paper to canvas is simple and laborious. First I trace carefully and accurately using a very fine black pen. Then I turn the paper over and use a brown watercolour pencil (currently a Derwent Inktense "Willow") and go over all of the lines. I use brown because it's light enough to see the black pen lines, it's also a permanent earth colour and more likely to blend and be hidden by paint over the top. The pencil doesn't blend or visibly react with solvents, which is why I use an Inktense. Finally I trace onto the painting surface using a fine point embossing scribe, a metal spike with a tiny ball at the end.
I haven't painted anything in what seems like a lifetime. I wanted to write a surreal novel, or at least one chapter in November (two chapters were my goal, but I did add a question mark!) but alas, I struggled which is no surprise because I hardly read any fiction. The idea is good though so I'll keep it. I'm not yet willing to commit the resources needed to learn to write. I'm full of painting ideas and ambitions. I'm pressuring myself to produce paintings, out of love for it, out of fear of growing old and losing my faculties, a degeneration which I can practically feel happening daily and seem to detect in everyone older than myself.
I'll paint some colour studies tomorrow. My monthly goals call for finishing colour studies for six paintings, finishing the artwork and releasing The Infinite Forest album, and modelling for two new paintings. I'd like to finish some actual paintings too, and perhaps start a new one. Oh, and have a good Christmas and 37th birthday.
Today's goal is to rest.
