29 MARCH 2023
A re-visit nearly twelve months later, working the blues and yellows and fixing the orientation! The harbour-shape is no longer a boat-shape, which niggled me and now sits better in the rectangle.
MON 18 APRIL
I couldn't wait to see the painting this morning: any changes needed or refinements or can I simply enjoy the painting? Had fun trying different orientations and both these versions below seem to work too. On the left, my harbour sleeps gently while on the right there is a sensation of falling, dynamism and danger, more uncomfortable to look at but nonetheless thrilling. The purple curve seems to hold everything up. But I am going to stick with my original choice above, which has its own unease and beauty and a feel of landscape, and in terms of the series, is more surprising.
SUN 17 APRIL 2p.m.
Simplification: the harbour sits on a weighty Cerulean based blue and red re-drawing brings a solution. A delicious downward slant/slide from the top-left and twin counter-slants provide a tension and a title. The cut-mark on the right, with its sharpness and difference does a sensational job for the painting, bringing the eye back in.
SUN 17 APRIL a.m.
The horizontal green mark that takes out the orange corner brings a change of orientation (5). Dramatic drawing opens up the painting: the rose and Cadmium yellow mix is a good match for my 'sea' colour. Inside the harbour-shape, the colours are too warm, too drab, the marks too complicated. Replacing the harsh yellow with the purple curve (6) has made a huge difference. New purples now enter the middle harbour.
SAT 16 APRIL
'Until it is resolved, a painting is a live thing, full of possibilities...' . Looking for a palette, looking for space, looking for a shape/harbour to activate the rectangle. An early idea, in (1) & (2), which I might go back to, is to have two harbours, one high tide, one low-tide. After a few recent yellow paintings, I have an urge to work with blue this time. Loving the Cerulean/Emerald sweep and the twist to the top-corner is interesting in (4) but the colour- relationship and balance is wrong and all is too flat/cut-out.
