I removed all the books and stationary covering my Hero's Journey painting which I started towards the end of last year, and prepared to continue my journey.
I left 4 dancers on my Xuan when I said goodbye to 2019, and I wanted to increase the size of the dance troupe. What I had dreamt up was that each member represented different stages in my Hero's Journey, thus the various poses implied difference circumstances and paths in life. Obviously I hope the congregate assembly of these dancers could compose or depict the process of life, as demonstrated by their movements.
I decided to add 3 more dancers to the left margin. Their relatively stationary poses perhaps symbolized the embryonic stages of the journey, where there were musings and preparations. These dancers were waiting for the right moment to be swooped up in the gravity defying grand jete, or an extravagant arabesque. As their preparations in life matures, they excecute.
I debated on whether to add more dancers to my painting at this point. I decided against it as I was worried about crowding.
For reasons that are still unbeknownst to me, I started to paint some streaks on the bottom of the painting. I hated it. It appeared as if I was trying to create a landscape for my dancers.
I sensed that I had mucked up my painting. I suppose one way to redeem it was to paint in stripes
to simulate a ribbon effect.
The observant viewer could see little specks of color in the painting. Those are the results of past bleed through on my wool under pad. As the paper becomes wet, it extracted whatever was left in the pad. This is a problem that I encounter all the time, especially when shampooing my carpet.
Fragments of pigment or dried up ink crust would fall onto the carpeting and be obscured by the piles. Upon contact with the wet shampoo solution they dissolved and stain the carpeting. I've learnt my lesson and mandate myself to do a thorough vacuuming first before shampooing.
In hind sight I should have left the painting alone because I am not pleased with the ribbons. I think they distract from the story and render the piece rather prosaic. I prefer the native color of the paper better.
Well, there's always the next stop, as the journey continues. I'm not ready for my coda
