I struggled with this painting over many months. It was very exciting in the beginning-all the different marks referring to the wet damp of last autumn whilst trapsing through the undergrowth in search of the elusive White Well on the Postman’s track near Teignmouth in Devon. The white well is one of a series of holy wells built by monks in the 1300’s.

one of the many plein air scribblings of the site

I am currently involved with a group of artists and poets exploring the Haldon Forest area, a place rich in iron age history, roman roads, flint quarries and murder! I was immediately drawn to the leafy thickness underfoot, the lovely shapes and colours of the leaves, the darkness of the woods and the circular shape of the well itself

A series of studies ensued in the studio after a pile of rough plein air doodlings on scraps of paper

small study of White Well -mixed media on watercolour paper

Then I felt the need to expand and make the whole experience BIGGER.

And suddenly in the middle of all the fun I got stuck! There seemed to be no resolution in sight

monoprinting the leaf shapes

so much fun!

adding some colour

texture, drips, and still fun

a composition starts to emerge………

but, i get hung up on this ‘well’ shape and that perpendicular thing in the background zaps my will to carry on!

I do end up glueing down the Well shape and then i hit a brick wall. I realize i have become too hung up on The END, rather than letting the painting guide me

Fast forward almost a year and I hauled the canvas out and started playing with bits of collage and some new ideas

experiment with more collage…..

nope! that doesnt work-too busy-i want a quiet area and i feel the perpendicular stuff competes with the well

Lesson: sometimes you have to be patient with resolution-it can’t be forced, so my advice is to back off before you go too far and fall into the trap of expectation and disappointment!

back away from the painting….

what 3 words