Thoughts on new work

Note: from earlier in the year - possibly March. I should really do these things in order. ;-)

To recollect some possibly useful thoughts while I was painting last week.

I rearranged my tree forms work and I can see four main threads of work. One I'm concentrating on and at least three well-hidden tangents! So that was quite a useful exercise.

Thread one: my main one, is abstracting the tree forms which has made three pieces of larger work all around the theme of the first signs of spring. The trunks and branches are really dark blues, browns and purples, then there are little flashes of oddly shaped green. I think the shapes are key and colours second. So I think I need to set up a few canvases and have a go at making a set in watercolour / ink / acrylics.

Thread two: is sort of a zoomed out version of the above, and I'm going to abandon it because it's too much about the shape of the tree, too obvious and sort of too easy to get a satisfactory image from, which sounds silly, but means I'm not learning anything from it.

Thread three: has a looser, wider brushstroke and turns the tree forms pretty much unrecognisable, pretty much into landscapes and I feel I can work into them with pen / pencil without having to conform to the original sketch - which I'm doing with thread one. So I'll keep hold of that one.

Thread four: sort of a cheat because it's from a different trip, is more surreal, more of a doodle in ink. I like this but I haven't worked out a way, yet, of harnessing it into something I can sustain and make understandable/communicate. It's definitely 'mine' but it's also a bit weird, which is how many of my doodles turn out. However, I can see interesting abstract forms emerging and perhaps combined with the colours I've identified could form something else...

Oh, and another boats in the city at night painting emerged by itself the other day. I think it's a memory of London. I tend to forget that it's a city on water, but many times I've worked there in the last ten years have been in buildings next to water; quays or canals.