Edges beyond edges

View of painting the canvas edges in progress

If craft is revealed at the edges of a work, then a grid of 32 canvases means painting 128 edges. I think this may be form of procrastination for starting the next grid painting (still searching for inspiration!) or at least finishing the other two 24 " x 36 " paintings on the wall. I experimented with the effect first before committing to this tedious endeavor. To test, I selected a few adjacent squares from within the grid and painted their sides - one brush width beyond the face of the canvas-matching the color on the face of the painting. The result elevates the composition to a new level- the image itself seems to be folding over the plane of the canvas and beyond. Adjacent canvases seem to fold into each other and each other's shadow.

Forward progress is slow sometimes. Celebrating these precious five to ten minutes stolen from the start and end of the day. I can only paint one of the 4 sides at a time as I need to wait for the paint to dry before turning the canvas to paint another side. My studio floor looks like a mini Stonehenge of 6" x 6" canvases. It's been a couple weeks of chipping away at this task. Sometimes I just don't feel like it. But am reminded of a friend who once said, "Before closing your eyes, if you read a page a night; eventually you will make your way to the end of the book ." Here's to seeing this story all the way thru to the very last page.

-March 27, 2024