Very Raw Sienna

A lump of dirt from a hillside in La Crete, south of Siena in Tuscany, ground up and allowed to 'slake' for 24 hours in a little water and then combined with PVA.

Raw Sienna, quite literally.

The idea then, was to set my natural colour against something decidedly unnatural.

To balance the blue with the brown, I sometimes needed white.

Six little abstracts. 

Where Things Are

Concentrate on where things are, I was told, and what they are becomes apparent.

Given two colours and three or four simple shapes, where then, should things be?

I feel that to go on painting these pictures forever would be sufficient. There is such pleasure in variation.

Concealing and revealing

The intention was to create four pictures that worked on their own as well as together. They were also supposed to read any way up. My Howard Hodgkin plumbing nightmare.

After some serious editing...  

colours were rediscovered,

 new conjunctions appeared

and surprises occurred.

Now there are spaces between the colours, where the mind may wander.

Beginning and Ending

Four weeks ago, this looked like the beginning of something.

Now it looks like the end.

Minor Adjustments

Choosing to accept the limitations of this particular portrait mean that my finishing touches remain just that. Of course, there really is no such thing as a finishing touch, only the last stroke before the work is abandoned. New ideas at this point are anathema unless one has another canvas, primed and ready to go.
Fortunately, I have another 70.

An abstract, improvised over two canvases and going nowhere since early May.

Upended and smothered in Hansa Yellow and Carbon Black.

Another Carrot

Working on the Image Wall again after seven weeks away.

It started off as a carrot. That's why it's orange.

Minor adjustments need to be made (those famous last words).

Less than 9 per cent of the Wall.

Intermission

Gathering even more material for the Image Wall.

Chateau l'Age Baston, Charente.