Limited Surface

These long narrow canvases have caught my attention, naturally since I am supposed to be focusing on the 12×12″ ones. I painted the sketch of the dancer on one the other day, and played with how much I could leave off the edge. With this figure I decided to work on fitting the whole figure in.

I often work with limited supplies and I think it’s a great way to get interesting results, but I usually think in terms of limited palette, or just selecting a limited number of bits and pieces. I’ve never really thought about the challenge of limiting space in this way.

I only have three of these canvases, and they have probably been sat in my stash for twenty years, so the size may not even be something that’s still in vogue. Of course I’ll have the argument with myself that I do have plenty of others to fill with paint, and just limit this to a three canvas project. That may involve gesso and a ghost dancer.

The canvases used to be stored out of the way where I couldn’t see them, and they needed things to be shifted to get to them. I moved them to be more accessible, and it seems to be working in terms of getting paint on them instead of dust. There’s a different kind of energy going on, and I like it.

Paint sketchbooks like they are canvases, then paint canvases like they are sketchbooks seems to have been my route this year.

Til the morn,

Suzanne

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