Alter Ego

Land Scaped, 24x24
Alter Ego, 12x12

Finally I am painting again in the "studio" and it feels good.  Alter Ego, above, 12x12, was begun in the house before I moved to Camp Meade.  It was roughed in using up what was left on the palette but grew into it own just recently.  I've left areas of very thin paint and canvas showing in combination with the thicker wax encrustations.  When it dries I will probably refine it some more, but feel it is formed and quite strongly.  The other, Land Scaped, also has been growing and evolving its layers.  Acrylic wall paint texturized it and then it waited its time.  Once again, I'm not certain I am finished, but it feels near completion.  When I paint within a painting, there is an interaction between what i see, feel, and what is becoming.  After I draw away from the painting, I need to sit with it awhile, take images, turn it, consider what is next and sometimes the painting says to leave me alone.  It is an intuitive process.  From past experience, I know that when I reenter a painting, it can change drastically, making layers upon layers.  I have to be careful about returning with brush in hand if a painting is feeling full of itself.  How much is a painting its own creation or how much is it our play thing to toy with?  I guess these were my questions when raising my boys also.