Getting ready

I install my solo show next Monday at the gallery. It's the final stretch now, and I'm working on the last few paintings. All the work in this show will consist of the text paintings I've been doing since the Spring. It's an arduous process from initial idea to final creation. I was originally using a courier font, but wanted to see more of my hand in it. So I had my handwriting converted into a font, and I've been using that for the most recent works. The process after that is then to project the text onto the paper, and lightly trace the letters with pencil. After which I spend days carefully painting in each letter with watercolor and a #2 paintbrush (tiny). The color choice and painting process are all done in an organic and unplanned fashion. I am most interested in feeling things out, and letting the water and pigment flow where they want to. I think because the rest of the process is so rigid, I prefer to let the letters form so loosely. I looked through all the work today, and I feel really good about how it looked. In fact, I find the paintings to be beautiful. But of course, this is a highly biased reaction!