A funny thing happened after that flurry of exciting new paintings that I wrote about in the previous post. In that post I was wondering if they were heralding a change in style or were just “one-off” paintings.

I tried to recreate the new style, and they were rather something of a disaster. What I’m thinking now is that with the first ones I was unhappy with the paintings I’d been working on, and in a frenzy motivated by desperation and boredom I let go of what expectations I had for the painting and became a conduit. Guide by instinct the paintings flowed right through me. Three times within two days. The fourth was a consequence of momentum, but each time I got a painting that I was happy with.

The somewhat logical conclusion, then, is that I first need to do a painting that I get frustrated with. In pursuit of that I’ve only had a chance to start a couple paintings since then, but which, unfortunately for these circumstances are going well and I’m not frustrated or bored. Wish me luck, whatever that may be.