Coloured Mud

Old on left • Rework(ing) on right

Don’t we all have these projects lying about, whispering sweet guilt at their unfinished nature? It might be some involved yard work or a shelf that isn’t quite up on the wall yet. For myself and many artists there are various older ideas that had begun to take form in our chosen medium but for whatever reason never quite came to a place of completion that satisfied the parties involved. In my own art, oil painting has always been a difficult beast to master because it brings a larger set of possibilities than other mediums which means more paths to follow and more places to get lost and frustrated. My studio racks are littered with half realized oil paintings, of which many fall under the category of “project needing completion.”

In particular, I had made a series of paintings entitled “Malls” which, if logic follows, were depictions of shopping malls in oil paint. At the time (2001-2003) I was a semi fledgling studio painter just finding my footing in terms of direction and execution. I knew what I was doing for the most part but there was a lot of learning on the job (still is.) This led to some paintings that I feel where stronger in concept than in actual construction – especially a number of much larger pieces whose polish eluded me as time and energy ran out. Physically smaller pieces are easier to make in that, for obvious reasons, they happen more quickly and the ½ inch brush dances across the canvas with an organic flair as a simple flick of the wrist will create some exciting effect of color and paint. At the larger scale, that same quality of surface requires a 2 inch brush and a swirl and twist of the whole arm. A smaller work is akin to walking on a plank that sits on the ground while a larger work is like walking on that same plank now suspended 4 feet above the ground. Same plank, different variables and a more challenging process to walk with height under your feet.

So I sit with a number of large, older oil paintings that have needed a rework for years and I am just now feeling up to the challenge. Plus, I am running out of storage space and if I still have these large pieces after all these years then that means they haven’t and maybe won’t sell in their current format. I still think these are good pieces overall, I just think they can be little better.

How do you approach reworking these old projects? Do you employ a scorched earth policy or a simple tickling of the sleeping giant? Probably somewhere in between is best and as I’ve worked these past weeks I’ve felt the process unfold almost like rekindling an old friendship that has lain dormant for many years.
That old friend that you’ve come back in contact with after all these years (thanks, facebook…) has touched a nerve of history that rushes forth a jumble of old feelings and patterns that have to then be reconciled with new feelings and patterns.

Like that first conversation after ten years of silence there is hesitation and curiosity all at once as you step back into older patterns and wonder, almost aloud, if you didn’t leave this relationship for a good reason. It’s neither altogether comfortable nor uncomfortable but it is fascinating. With effort, as all meaningful relationships require, you start to see that some of that old stuff was founded with good intentions and strong bonds. Those aspects of your relationship are hard to break and will remain strong if you choose to move forward. At the same time, there is some reason that you left behind that project and reconciling what wasn’t working then is a big part of finding what will work today.

The first few steps of reworking the old project feel oddly like the small talk of catching up after so long. You tease and prod old memories and test them against your new sensibilities. Some of the old isn’t so different from the new and a color choice in an old painting might still resonate after all this time. Some aspects aren’t so wonderful and you question how in the world you hung out with this painting once upon a time. The flaws are so obvious now…

Soon, if you want to bring that project into the light of present day, hard choices need to be made. How much do you keep and how much do you discard and rework? The lurking difficulty is that our human nature will gravitate towards the familiar, even when it isn’t desirable. I have literally caught myself short a few times in the reworking as I realize I am making the same poor choices I made years ago with a slight variation. It didn’t work then and it doesn’t work now.

Goals are the key to deciphering this process. Usually, paintings go awry when we lose sight of ultimate goals and swirl the paint around, directionless. I see parts of these mall paintings that lack that direction and my memory recounts the pressure of a deadline (a show) caused some of that aimlessness.

For the “Malls,” I found the overall structure of the paintings to be reasonably strong and what I found lacking was a deliberate sense of focus between sky, mall and parking lot. I also feel that the surface of the paint wasn’t as seductive and meaningful as it could have been. My lack of time and knowledge frustrated this process many years ago and I can call on more experience and knowledge in the present to tackle these new goals. Simply – clarify the sky, mall and parking lot relationship and make the painted surfaces richer. I believe goals are easier to achieve when they are kept essential and clear and it is on this footing I have preceded in my reworking.

Now, if I could only get that shelf on the wall…