The bottle

This is the painting from two days ago after another session of painting. I covered the entire canvas again, working in the morning light and I prefer it now, it has matured. There are one or two new features that came out of the original shapes giving it a clearer narrative, the colours are more balanced and it is just stronger overall. I was looking at Picabia for some guidance today, he liked to fill his canvases with multi-forms and undulating connected surfaces. I have also been looking at Klee (both with this painting and the last) because he gives me confidence to use colour in a vibrant way, for its own sake -using colour for its own colour language. I might have mentioned Auerbach before, but he sort of revolutionised my painting last year, gave me a new enthusiasm for it, because he uses so much paint. I'd always been a bit stingy without realising, layering thin careful layers, probably because I was using expensive little 37ml tubes. Since being quite fascinated and moved by his paintings which I saw hanging in London, I was driven to get home and just play with paint again. I set about sourcing some cost effective 250ml cans of industrial oil paint so that I'd have enough to feel free to use in a freer way. His paintings are so heavy they actually need a crane to hang them. Well I am nothing like that but the point about using paint for its texture got through and it is a great contrast to using a computer program which cannot imitate the look of that, let alone the experience of applying it. (Also I have updated my previous painting - with a photograph which is a truer representation of its colours in daylight).