It’s been a while since I sat at my easel. A prepped canvas had been waiting for me for months as I kept walking past it.

You might not have noticed it here, but for the last few months, I have been developing a different part of my work more. I’ve been working in a different style, with new techniques, and topics that didn’t find a home in this portfolio. I’ve been sharing lots on my other website, DOGvision.eu. My two websites and their social media pages have been my yin/yang for decades now, and I flow between these two spaces. Sometimes I spend more time on one aspect, then I move back to the other one.. DOGvision’s website has always been about photography first, but around the end of 2024, I (almost accidentally) started sketching my dogs. I quickly realized that I had no idea how to draw dogs, and the best remedy for that is practice. Through many failed sketches and questionable dogs, I did find techniques that felt right for me for this specific subject: ink and alcohol markers. It’s quite funny because I never use these in my other work.

In spring, I committed to a 100-day project and I drew one dog a day for 100 days. Last week, I finished the challenge- and while I’m thinking about a second season of some sort, it freed up the time to step away from social media and back to the easel.

These paintings are not commissions, but time for offline play. Colours. Paint.
I’ve been testing layering and textures, and I’m following a feeling of direction. It might sound very familiar to you (or maybe not at all), but I have the feeling that I have to try and test things to reveal the next step. Through my sketches, my work has been changing a lot, and I’m looking for ways to translate that into more final work.

Stepping away from devices of all sorts is crucial to having the time and focus to keep digging- or well, painting.
This offline, disconnected time is so precious in a hyper-connected world, and to keep creative fires burning, we need to carve out time to make work that is more about the journey than the final result.

It could be nice to leave some Friday afternoons unscheduled with time for paint and play and to finally give all these ideas a go on canvas. I can see it being a way to reconnect with my work and myself before the start of the weekend, and if questions or issues arise, I can let them simmer quietly until I return to the studio.

For this painting, I’ve been working with acrylics. I’d like to use more oil paint, but I often hesitate because of the cleanup and odors (for my dogs). When I hesitate or procrastinate, I wonder why, and I look for solutions. This summer is all about getting the drawing and painting time in, and removing as many barriers as possible. That means carrying a small sketchbook and fewer drawing supplies when it comes to daily sketching, and picking acrylics over oil paint when it comes to painting.

Anyway, I hope to get many more painting moment in this summer before the challenge of the short and dark days.