Wood, wood, wood

*note - suffering technical difficulties. Photo camera on the skids. Thus, am forced to take very dreadful webcam images. Also have lost some data which has made me sad. Will be receiving the tool that's supposed to fix the issue next week*

Wood acquisition has been a somewhat collective process - from Marshall to Hot Springs, raw materials have come our way, ready to be prepared. This rough cut video shows Jim explaining the process.

Also, I present first capital investments in the project:

Miter Saw - $100 through Craigslist

Circular Sander - $30 through Craigslist.

New CF card & reader - $22 through Amazon.
As well - order placed through local store FINALLY - more on that forthcoming.

As we see here, a vast collection of wood exists. Out of this 90 must emerge - but we begin with baby steps, preparing just 7 at a time.

I have chosen a specific shape for a specific painting. The first one to appear in the book is the moody Fishermen at Sea, an early work from 1796. The panel chosen for this has an actual hole right along the angle of the break in the clouds. This might be a disastrous choice, or it might (as I hope) augment the dramatic force of that sun doing away with the general darkness and causing the chiaroscuro elements of the piece.

Morning Amongst the Coniston Falls (image at right)(1798) seems so epic that I have opted for a larger-than-usual canvas. Possibly a bit too much to digest so early into the project, but the piece, to me, really calls for it.

Buttermere Lake (1798) requires the use of one of the ones I dearly wanted to experiment with: the slightly rounded cross-section of a tree trunk. The ray of light and the rolling hillsides relate well to the natural grain of the wood rings - here's one I might try with transparent gesso.

The week takes me through The Goddess of Discord Choosing the Apple of Contention in the Garden of the Hesperides (1806), which is quite a mouthful, as well as a lot to take in visually. Woods have been chosen for all, and will soon be prepped and primed.

(love this site)