This is how the painting is looking at the moment. (Read yesterday’s post for details.) The work on the torso is first stage and so there’s still a great deal to be done to bring it to completion. I need to get the head, hands and legs to the same stage so that the work across this zone progresses coherently. This is where everything will either come together or fail. I dare not think about the latter as an outcome.
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This morning we’ve been without electricity at Ty Isaf while the power was transferred from an overhead system to the house to one laid underground. (So no painting today!) When we moved here three years ago the building was caught in a cat’s-cradle of overhead cables. We always knew that at some point we’d try to improve the situation. For the past few months we’ve moved by stages toward setting things right. The grounds have been churned up with heavy machinery as trenches have been dug and ducts laid to take the power and telecom lines. It’s awash with mud out there. However the work will make such a difference to the appearance of this historic house. Come Spring the turf will heal over and Ty isaf will stand free of the power lines that disfigured it like a ship with maladroit rigging.
Clive Hicks-Jenkins' Artlog: 
He has a very strong light to him, too. As if he’s shining.
“Painting the saint” is a beautiful mental image in its own right … Your colors speak so strongly! and the torso is lush and spare both. Gorgeous. And the birds are BIRDS, not the idea of birds – the beaks and feet are palpable.
Hugs from a misty grey morning –
Kathe
I’m so pleased you like it Kathe. Just hope that I can bring it to completion satisfactorily. This is the hardest part of the painting to pull off, not least because it must tie the disparate elements together to form something coherent. I’m on the case this afternoon. Just down from the studio for ten minutes to project manage the building works!
wow, clive, it’s coming together perfectly! i think this is your best one yet…the colors are glorious, and the birds provide the most striking details!
i’m swooning, can you tell? 🙂
good luck with the power situation…it’s a great idea, all power lines should be under ground.
happy thanksgiving from over here 🙂
Thank you Zoe. Yes, Thanksgiving. I always forget about that as we don’t have it here in the UK. I guess Harvest Festival is our equivalent, though it’s observed almost exclusively within the church calendar and not as a public celebration. I don’t think most children here would even know what Harvest Festival is these days, though I suspect everyone in the US knows the date of Thanksgiving. Anyway, many thanks for the good wishes, and we return the same to you and Gabriel.