I’ve been wondering whether the time this sheep painting sat unfinished between Easter and now counts as part of the answer the question “How long did it take to paint?”. (This is something that gets asked fairly often, and because the answer is convoluted I tend to treat it more as a way into a conversation rather than directly answer it. Sometimes I reply with “how long is a piece of string”.)
I’d started this the same time as three sheep paintings others of the same size (“Summertime”, “After You”, and “Tea for Two”) which went to Skyeworks for Easter (photos here) but didn’t finish it in time and it sat in my studio neglected. In part it was because I’d made a good start and so I knew the next round with it would have the “don’t mess it up now” stress, which can be inhibiting. Having sold four large sheep paintings (two a few weeks ago, one last Friday and one on Saturday), I had tremendous incentive to finish it, which I now have. It still needs to dry for 24 hours, then varnishing, then it’ll be ready to be sent out into the big wide world.
Here’s a close-up of one of the sheep, to give a sense of the layers and colours.
Close-up of the sea and the texture paste “sand”.
