Transitioning - Painting is for the birds...getting the "flock" out!

Summer is vanishing quickly despite my efforts to prolong it through artificial means...

... there is profuse time to think... and I take this opportunity to learn more about a very successful and engaging Quebec artist by the name of Marc Séguin. I went to see some of his paintings yesterday and plan to see the movie about him tonight. I'm looking for inspiration in the area of strengthening the artistic mind and producing art that engages people in a dramatic fashion...

I've been wanting for a while to go back to raw canvas (I have yards of it left after having produced a couple of paintings) and, coincidentally, Séguin is currently using raw canvas from what I can see. Technically speaking, it's been interesting to see his use of black and grey, in particular, the various shades of grey that he obtains - through the use of oils, fusain and ashes- which almost rival those from Chinese black ink. This is for me just an eye opener in terms of the use of staining techniques that are only possible with raw canvas.

Two thing come to mind in terms of future technical exploration:

• The production of black and white images with partial coloration to create drama (I've been toying with this idea since 2007, but did not have the technical knowledge to make things happen)
• The deconstruction of realistic images to create an aura of mystery

While I let these ideas simmer, I want to start 2 series: one depicting "wall to wall" flocks of birds in abstract fashion (I announced this one last year) and, another one tackling the recent economic recession with a twist of humour. Both series will involve birds (I used to be an animal painter), since I want to see the impact of my recent techniques on this rather conventional and potentially boring subject matter.

Time to go back to canvas by the roll!