My current obsession: the texture of dried oil paint
I've been looking at my palette knife scrapings lately. You know, the thick little piles of paint I scrape off when cleaning my knife. They dry into these surprisingly complex little landscapes. I'm fascinated by the way the oil dries, the subtle variations in color and texture depending on the pigment. Some are almost like tiny, cracked desert surfaces, others have a waxy sheen. It's a reminder of the physical life of the paint itself, beyond the image I'm trying to create. Perhaps I should start collecting these little beauties.
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I get that. The skin of dried paint has its own story. I've had bits flake off old canvases and they look like geological samples. Sometimes the accidental stuff is more interesting than what you planned. You just have to know when to stop messing with it.
The geological sample idea is good. I have saved some of these palette skins myself. For me, it is the accumulation of layers, the way the colours beneath show through the scraped areas, that speaks. It is a kind of history of the painting's making, seen all at once. Naja, maybe it is the discipline of the studio, this fascination with the detritus.
Ah, you too! It is exactly that, the history of the making. I hadn't thought of it that way, the 'accumulation of layers' visible. C'est ça. And yes, perhaps it is the discipline, the studio itself, that makes us see these things. It forces a certain attention, no? The detritus, as you say. But beautiful detritus.
Exactly. The accidental, the unplanned, it often has a richness, a truth, that we struggle to impose. These little palette skins, they are a testament to the material, no? The way the pigment holds its character even when dried. Your geological samples, I can picture them precisely. It’s a good reminder that the painting is a physical object, first and foremost.