My project for today was to get ready to do a painting. I've been tired of the canvas over my couch for a while, but it's better than blank wall. Still, it's an unfinished seaside landscape from Big Sur. I haven't touched it in years, and now I realize I never will. I've lost interest in the project, and I don't see a way forward.
Still, I need something over the couch, and it's a $65 canvas.
I decided on something that would pull together elements of the Tuscan countryside, the architecture of Siena, and the colors of the contrada flags I brought home. I've been working all day on some ideas. I've been working with Photo Shop and a picture I took through an archway at San Bernardino. I cropped and moved and scaled and copied and pasted to get something that looked right. Then I used Visio to work out a technique I learned in drawing class, superimposing a grid and cross-hatch over the image, to give me landmarks to work with when I begin painting, to get proportions and spacing right. I still have to piece together my print out, which will end up being the same size as my canvas. Still a lot of work to do, but I feel better about being able to finish this one.
I do need to get some photographs to figure out how to do the draping on a contrada flag I want to include. I've had them hanging above my patio doors, folded and fastened with hem tape. I need this one to hang differently for my studies, and I've been wondering if the tape was the best idea anyway. Thus a new project is born.
I've discovered that pulling at the tape doesn't rip the fabric, but it does distort the weave. And it's hard to detach. It turns out, Goo Gone is my friend. Which then washes out fairly well without bleeding the color. So the next project is to pull them all down, remove the tape, wash them out, and press them. After I get my photos to help with my painting, I plan to fold them the way I want to hang them, press them into that shape, then hem them with a minimal amount of stitching. Then I'll need help hanging them again.
I think when I finish my painting, I'll post pictures of all the things I've done in the process. But for now it's a surprise. :-)
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