So, after months of back and forth on this 24x48” wave painting, I’m calling it done! Sorry for the glare, will get better pics soon, but I wanted to put this up as an example of paintings that can take a long time to come together. This one has lived through countless iterations on the easel, as I worked towards the statement I was trying to make... which also changed over the course of working on it! This is what happens with painting, you go in with an idea and then at some point the painting takes on a life independent of the source subject. It is then that you must listen to the painting to tell you what to do. I am especially confronted with that on this wave series. Each painting starts from a reference photo of a real wave I’ve captured from our coast, but I’m learning to discard the image after a certain point, and use the painting to direct what comes next. I’m gaining confidence in this process only after a year plus of studying waves, watching them, surfing in them, even doing slow motion video to see how they break and dissipate. My goal with each is to capture the personality of the wave... which, in reality, ends up as my personality as I work on it. I get to a point and begin to feel the weight of the wave, the movement of the water, and then try to capture that through the work somehow. Have a great day, thanks for the continued support from all of my followers and patrons, who continue to let me do what I love! Jc
