Botanical Fantasy II

watch it appear before your very eyes

My thanks to those of you who have let me know that you like watching me paint. I’m trying to remember to set the camera when I begin working.

I like to watch other artists paint. It gives me insight about their process and sometimes helps me figure out exactly how they did the thing I can’t figure out how to do. When it happens in time-lapse it seems like an absolute miracle, like the artist knew at every moment what to do next.

It’s not like that at all: there’s a lot of sitting around waiting for paint to dry, standing back and evaluating, making decisions about where to go next, and stopping for a cuppa.

You’ll notice during the video that I moved my easel around several times. I have a 20x12 foot wall of glass in my studio that faces southeast. That’s a wonderful and challenging thing all at once. The light and view are amazingly beautiful, but the bightness and glare, especially on brilliant mornings in July can be tough to deal with, so I’m constantly wheeling the easel around, or working flat on my drafting table so that I can actually see what I’m doing.

I feel like this one almost painted itself. It had no “messy middle” or “sullen adolescent” phase as so many paintings do. The one I’m working on this week is behaving like a toddler in need of a snack, blankie and long nap. I’m pretty irritated with it right now, so I’ve put in in time-out for a while.

Botanical Fantasy II, however, was pure enjoyment from start to finish. I hope you enjoy the watching as much as I did the doing.