Twice Considered, 2014 – Michaela Harlow – Pastel on Cold Press, Deckle-Edge Paper, 20″ x 16″

When working on a painting, I am constantly moving and spinning the piece around. Shifting the orientation helps me to work areas with tools and manage layers. Turning the paper will also —sometimes anyway— alter the final composition. This tends to happen more often when the painting begins with a focus on geometric shapes; in this case, leaves.

Process. Process. Process. Not quite where I wanted it, but close. Turning back to where I started.

With this piece, I began with a very detailed drawing, which I then proceeded to obscure with six or seven layers of pastel and then ‘destroy’ with wire combs and bread knives. After applying a heavy coat of fixative, I continued the process of destruction, using a palette knife to smear more chunks of pastel and wayward dust. After the mutilation was complete, I spun the piece around one final time, painted areas back in with palette knife and stump, and coated the entire piece with a gauze of white. Finished? Not quite. I reconsidered and turned it on its head again. There, that’s the way I see it.

Sometimes you make up your mind. Then you change your mind. Then you end up back where you started.

Twice considered

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