I have been working on a triptych
The triptych started colourfully but the snowy light of the day seemed to influence the paint robbing the colour to a more subtle scheme
A triptych – 3 individual paintings becoming one
They have to work alone and together
I started to think of the painting in terms of relationship
Me
You
And the thing between us – the relationship
Alone and connected, all of us
The thing between, in this case the middle painting, has to connect from both sides and make sense of the other paintings
The middle painting is a bridge
From one place to another
With this thought the painting started to develop a narrative…
Two boats on the horizon
The viewer is seperated
Hope lies far out to sea…
A heavy cloud has gathered over the small boats
Light is needed
A way to reach the boats…
The boats are alone
Connected only by waves and sky
Are the boats going away or coming towards?
For me, the painting works as 3 individual images
Do I stop here?
Or sacrifice the individual to make a cohesive whole?
Is it possible in this painting?
Finishing a painting is a little bit like correcting spelling mistakes and punctuation in a piece of writing
It doesn’t necessarily need much to bring it all together
To make sense of the structure
But often we need to look for a long time to find the missing comma
The missing brush stroke
Finishing a painting is finding a full stop.
Perhaps the full stop for now is the separated triptych
The bridge may not be possible in this work this time
A problem to solve another day