I start each painting by stapling a large piece of unprimed canvas onto my studio floor. After soaking the canvas with water, I apply layers of acrylic paint, loosely blending the colours together with a worked-in broom that doubles as a large paint brush. Then, I scrape the surface with a palette knife, forming various textures and thicknesses of paint, coaxing the drawing to meld with the background. When it’s dry, I staple the canvas to the wall and with masking tape, I start the process of determining where the edges of the painting will be. A half inch either way can change the entire composition. Contemplating the finished work and critiquing myself, I find the entire process to be absorbing and interesting, full of discovery, challenges and unknowns.
My wish is that you feel uplifted as you engage with all the visual nuances that my acquired fluency with paint has granted me, a now greater freedom to surrender to all that painting allows.
Judy Singer Makes a Painting
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=54gRD3INUM8
film and music by Bruce Cassidy
January 2011
