It’s amazing how much preparation goes into making a painting. I have three projects on the go simultaneously: the crucifixion needs to be re-stretched and completed, the “Aviator’s Dream” is demanding ivy, and “As the Crow Flies” needs to get started.
  
  
I laid out the bars for the crucifixion. They were leaned together in the closet where I had hidden the painting away for all those years. The canvas won’t fit exactly right on the bars again, but it will be pretty close.
I spent a couple of hours figuring out how the birds will ascend the panel for “As the Crow Flies”. It has to be vertical in order to gain a sense of height; the birds will spiral up and out of the frame of the canvas, rising from what I think is going to be a cauldron at the bottom with a male figure looking into it. We’ll see how much I end up sticking to the plan, these things have a habit of changing themselves on the way to completion.Â
Finally I put the “Aviator’s Dream” up on the big easel and winched it up high in preparation for the ivy work in the coming weeks. I love this easel. It laughs at the most enormous canvases, doesn’t even flinch and holds them totally steady for me.Â
