Lots of little jobs done over the past two days; four frames decorated and three pictures framed, glazing Genesis of Terror, some sound effects work, updating the coding of the Bytten website, preparing my own website for the Oneric Image exhibition at the Lloyd Gill Gallery and the Bickerton exhibition at the end of the week, preparing the stained glass window work on The Annunciation, and seeking a female model image for a new painting (unsuccessfully; the pose is quite specific). That one, 'The Final Escape of the Psychological Cosmonaut' will be my last new composition of this season. I've got four big paintings to finish before October. I can't wait to get them out of the way and must make a big effort in August to at least begin them all.
In retrospect, the planning of paintings over winter for painting in summer was a mistake. The influx of summer competitions, often announced a month or two before their deadline added too much pressure to a carefully planned workload. The gap between concept and completion was too large too, making it harder to maintain motivation, and the work on planning over winter and painting over summer leaves no time for anything but art, which has affected my music detrimentally.
Next year I'll not begin planning a painting until I'm ready to paint it, and I'll make sure that each picture has a clear destiny. As a result I might paint fewer paintings in 2011, but hopefully better ones and I will have more time for other things. Flexibility in mind is the key to youth, health and success of all sorts.
Tomorrow I'll paint that stained glass window and drop off the paintings to Bickerton. Then I've got a choice; begin the Gethsemane painting or plan the Final Escape, a very modest painting in the style of The Elements (pictured).
