14.4.19

Diary of a Painting - Valerie Brennan


I have a new studio in my home, right in the center of the town. It is a change and it takes time for me to find a rhythm in this new space. I see green and trees around me but all the noises are urban, it is filled with light, quite a change from my previous studio. I want to make something that feels more crafted, handmade, and more vulnerable perhaps.  I chose the burlap for that, it is coarse and wonky. The threads are loose and irregular and when I stretch it over the wood the warp and weft of its weave bend and pull off center. I like its imperfections. It has a character before I touch it. I titled this Superhero because it exceeded my expectations.


Colours:
Bright Yellow Tempera / Cinnabar Green Light / Venetian Red /Perm. Yellow Light / Emerald Green / Perm. Red Light/ Cadmium Red Medium/ Ultramarine/ Naples Yellow Red /Chrome Green/Lamp Black/ Titanium White

Sounds:
Radiohead, The Bend/ The Killers, Sawdust/Louis Armstrong & Ella Fitzgerald / Jimmy Guffrie, Free Fall/ Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds, The Boatman’s Call (I plucked a recent title from this, Far From Me)

Words:
The bad girl by Mario Vargas Llosa/ Van Gogh’s letters /Embers by Beckett /
Beer with a painter: Tal R on Hyperallergic.

Images/painters/paintings:
Joanne Greenbaum/Joan Miro, /Joan Synder/ Elizabeth Cummings/ Richard Aldrich,