Closure

I've gradually become aware over the last couple of years that the paintings I want to do - need to do - can't happen in my current studio. It's affordable and artfully funky but the rooms are just too small. I've had my eye out for a new space. There have been a couple of possibilities but nothing has materialized. To break my inertia I have been considering increasingly radical plans to start movement toward the door.

In the midst of these unsettled feelings I decided to do a "closure" painting. I would do an interior oil that would hopefully capture some essence of the place and let me move on. With a difficult perspective in the tight space I thought it wise to do a preliminary drawing - something I almost never do. I set to work about six weeks ago. The drawing process was so enjoyable I decided to forgo the painting and let the drawing be the finished product. I had no way of knowing this would be my last work in my alley studio.

Studio Interior (Model on Break), oil pastel, 12" X 15", 2014

Within a couple of weeks of starting this project another studio space suddenly became available. The new space is a bit of a wreck but it is just what I have been searching for. Coincidence? Would the new space have presented itself had I not begun this drawing? There is no way to know the answer. I'm not particularly superstitious but the timing of these events has me thinking.