A Year of Making Art, Day 300: Spider Phobia

February 13, 2008  Day 300

Today I used the wide tip of my Zig calligraphy pens to make criss-crossing lines across the surface of the paper.  Then I created a denser central area with finer lines and circles, finally adding texture and filling in some spaces for emphasis.

  Drawing #306  14" x 11"

Next I had to tackle Canvas #34, which was problematic because of the dark blue background.  I drew a few organic shapes in Alizarin Crimson, and then filled them in with a mixture of Alizarin Crimson, deep red, and gloss medium.  Now what do I do after this?

  Canvas #34  48" x 48"

My studio is used to capacity, but we have a huge basement that I avoid because of all the big ugly wolf spiders that live there.  This week we have a contractor filling in all the cracks between the floor and the wall (the spider's favorite hiding place).  Adrian is sorting through everything and took a huge carload to the Salvation Army and the dump.  The contractor built shelves to hold my stretchers and rolled canvases on one wall.  So maybe I'll feel comfortable enough to use this space in the future.

Warm weather will be the final test.  I've had a spider phobia all my life.

(Note: There is a gap between the dates I'm writing and posting in order to give me time to get ahead.)