March 10 - Almost Finished: The Collaboration

Here we are, nearing completion of the project. We're both tickled with what's been happening. Mike, who paints loosely and by instinct, is learning application techniques and tightening up his style. In the meantime, I'm getting freer and less deliberate and enjoying letting things happen. It doesn't matter to us at this point whether the paintings are wonderful or not. It's been a valuable experience for both of us and we learned that we make a great team, even when we would disagree. The process became what we both looked forward to each weekend, and if some wonderful things happened on canvas along the way, we were even more excited about the day's work.

These images are near the end of the project. We've gotten to a point where now the challenge is to make them both complete. We'll go through a few more stages and this is where we really did collaborate. We'd both stand in front of the same canvas and one might add paint, the other alter or remove it, or repeat that application. Sometimes we'd throw paint at the same time or teach one another something new to try. We honestly had so much fun working on these two paintings.

The outcome was that both went to the show in Portsmouth. Mike and I decided to do more collaborative work. Our first step to that end was to rent one large studio together and move from our smaller studios nearby. We each do our own work there and we're mulling over what to do next together. The completed paintings will be in the next posting. Along with some thoughts about working with another artist.