ABOVE Narcissi in
Bluebell Woods,
Dalkeith, oil on
linen, 81x101cm
FAR LEFT Daffodils
in Govancroft
Vase, oil on linen,
41 x41cmSunflowers or The Jewish Bride and
really looking, and working out how
those magical marks were made, and
seeing how full of life they are.
I would also recommend the work of
Scottish artist Joan Eardley. I saw her
work when I was young, and found the
freedom with which she used paint,
and her joy in the texture of paint, very
liberating. She was painting ordinary
things I could see – the grey tenements
of Glasgow and the wild Scottish
coasts – in a way that made them
even more real and alive. She uses a
wide variety of mark-making to build
the picture surface, even to the extent
of incorporating real stalks of grass or
particles of sand into the work.How long do you need to leave a
typical painting to dry?
It depends on lots of factors including
the time of year and the weather.
Blues tend to be surface dry quite
quickly, even in a week in summer, but
reds and whites can take three or four
weeks in a cold winter in the studio.
Different areas of the piece will dry
faster or slower depending on how
thick the paint is.Obviously, planning for gallery
deadlines is part of my painting
schedule. I try to allow at least three
weeks before a painting is sent to the
framers, otherwise there’s the danger
both of damage in transit and of the
paint sticking to the slip.
My largest paintings are unglazed,
so I try and leave them as long as
possible, ideally a month or two.
The impasto needs to be not only
touch-dry, but firm underneath.
Judith’s next joint exhibition runs 25 May
to 22 June at Grilli Gallery, Edinburgh.
http://www.jibridgland.com