The scary thing about painting is, there is no delete key, a brush stroke can be a creator or a killer and even when a maverick brush stroke is saved it still lurks like a dirty little secret that you hope no one finds.
The Wandering Brush is an interesting project and as I get to my fifteenth painting it intrigues me more. I have wondered whether I am actually painting unconsciously from the lower depths of the mind since I am applying paint without conscious thought. (Pick a colour, pick a brush and apply paint to see what you get). If this is the case how the hell do you know when a painting has reached it’s end?
It is intriguing because I find myself hovering between the two states of mind. Initially a few hours painting reveals something and then there is a pause. A session of standing in front of the canvass debating is it done, is it finished, is it there and a yes no yes no yes no yes no self debate that is like sitting in an uncomfortable chair that you cannot bear to throw out. Then I decide and it's off again with a wandering brush.
Maybe it is the unconscious smacking the conscious with a stick or vice a versa for control of the brushes but either way a painting seems to be finished when you know it's finished.
One thing is for sure whatever I end up with feels like it came from somewhere else. I quite like painting 15 that is in production I just hope, whichever part of me is painting it does not fluff it up.
