I’ve been working on a triptych (three canvases, each 30 x 24 inches) using studies of morning glories from this summer, and I’m finding it very involving. As with many paintings, the triptych idea just popped into my head, the only clear idea being that I knew which three studies would be developed further, and that each painting should be able to stand on its own as well as interconnect with the other two. After all, who knows if I’ll have the opportunity to display them as a triptych? I’ve been focusing on one canvas at a time, and recently I lined them up to see what was going on, or not going on. As is often the case, compositional relationships between the paintings that I hadn’t really thought too much about beforehand became very evident, which supports my belief that a lot of what goes on in painting happens just below the conscious level. Had I planned those relationships, I think the result would have looked contrived. Executed, in both senses of the word. More to follow.
