Image Size 7 × 7 canvas wrapped giclée

Reflections in the Sand~ Where do I start?

It’s not always the case that I have a vision where I want to go when starting a new painting. Usually I have a general idea when I start but rarely does a painting flow from start to finish. I attribute this to the fact that I like to look at each painting as a unique piece, something different from all the others. Most paintings I do have an awkward stage that they go through where I’m trying to find that certain something that makes it unique. Reflections was refreshingly different!

I chose the image because I liked the composition. The four little Sanderlings scattering in the wet sand caused strong broken reflections, creating a frenetic scene. I thought it was a perfect representation of how I see them at the beach.

When I sat down at my easel with a simple drawing on a white gessoed board, I wasn’t sure where I wanted to take the painting. The moment is like the Norman Rockwell drawing I did that is at the end of every blog I write, an artist scratching his head wondering what’s next.

I’m busy painting for an upcoming one-man show and I’m working on creating a cohesive body of work. In other words, not having too wide a range in style from painting to painting. I had no intention of pushing my range and creating something very different.

When I started painting this painting, the brush just kind of led me. It wasn’t work, it was fun. Within the first few hours I could see the finished painting in my head. The problem was it was so different from my body of work that I thought, can I go with it or should I tighten up and refine it to look more like my other paintings?

The broken geometric shapes and bold brush strokes were creating an almost abstract quality to the painting, and I began to wonder if I was getting too far away from my other work .

I decided I had to go with it. If it became too “out there” for my show we would just exclude it.

Now that it’s done and it is certainly different, I’m glad I stuck with the direction my initial painting session took me. I liken the process in this painting to how jazz musicians must feel when they begin to improvise and go off on a riff.