Here’s another favorite painting I did last year – Garden Wall. A woman in a translucent gown stands next to a backyard wall illuminated by some strong out-of-frame light.
For a lot of reasons, this painting drove me crazy. The lighting is unusual so it was tricky to get right. The color and the brick pattern on the wall absolutely gave me fits. Usually, a painting will take somewhere between one to three weeks to finish. This one took months. I set it aside for a spell and then returned to it later, which is something I rarely do. Every year, it seems, I have one painting that causes me grief. Garden Wall was that one for 2022 and I’m currently struggling to finish my 2023 pain-in-ass painting.
Ultimately, I feel Garden Wall’s long, painful gestation was worth it. Perhaps the feeling of anxiousness and longing for the painting benefitted from the months that I spent cursing at the canvas. Every time I look at this work, my eyes gravitate to the light hitting that gown (also a nightmare to paint). Something about it lends the painting an air of vulnerability.
Garden Wall is available over at my online store.