Work in Progress, the Dialogue

If you are an artist you know the problem of facing that "empty" page; yes, you are excited, in your head you've often got a plan, you've done your prep (or you work spontaneously), you're ready to go (let's just let those creative juices flow!) however until those first lines are down, I find it daunting,
Faced by a new piece of pastel card and having discovered "mark up!" I thought I'd share some of my "artistic" thoughts while working.

Just in case it's not "saying" anything to you it's another water painting! This is the dialogue going on in my head!

"This is going to be great, I love the shapes! First lines in, yey!"

"Oh...oh, it reminds me of something ....... ????"

"Map of Scotland?? The Outer Hebrides???"

Off to Google a map of the coast of Scotland. Maybe I'm not as superficial as I think? Perhaps, my subconscious IS suggesting I really need to go back home ..... the yearning is too strong. Ok, vague unsettling similarity to the map, however back to the easel.

"This sanded card feels very smooth, does it always feel like that ?"

Off to check other sheets of sanded card, I must say since I hit 50 I really do have problems concentrating.

"Was it really a good idea to do water without rocks?"

Getting in some more colour ..........

"Is this too much like the other ? Are you churning out a series ?"

"OMG, Is this very "swinging 60's"? Psychedelic ......., but you were only 5 in the sixties."

Off to empty the tumble drier ...... ........., back to the easel.

"Oh! Arrrrgh! Remember that tutor at art school, Mr.C, the one who did all those terrible pop art paintings, the one who was stuck in a time warp ... .....! You're turning into him, but you can't because you were born in 1965."

Don't get me wrong, I love Andy Warhol, David Hockney and Roy Lichtenstein, but these were paintings with layers of dots and stripes and were already so passé for art students in 1984, mmmmmh although come to think of it Damien Hirst, Dots 1986, perhaps Mr. C was ahead of his time!

"Ok, this is freaking me out, time to stop."

Having read so many interpretations of paintings, I have often wondered what was going on in the artist's head during painting. Were they really "battling with the symbolism of flowing water, wondering how to put down that primordial desire to return to the source of all life" ? (Water) . Were they struggling with the evanescense of the fluid? Or did they just simply like the shapes and swirls of reflections on water.