Pack or Paint

Separation.  Oil on canvas, 20 x 16 inches.  ©Karine Swenson2011.

A busy weekend has left me without much to say.  Too much talking already, perhaps.  The painting above is another one from the new series.  A smaller one.  In one week, I will be once again climbing onto an airplane heading for Thailand.  One week!  Sheesh.  I have a lot to do.  I wonder how many paintings I can paint in one week?  A difficult choice:  do I pack or paint?  Pack or paint?  hmmmm.....  PAINT!!!  I'll just throw my toothbrush, a tshirt and some clean underwear in the bag and go.  Right?  Right.

I leave you with an excerpt from Interviews with American Artists (David Sylvester):
Sylvester: "And what makes you feel that a painting is finished?  When do you leave a picture alone?"
Willem De Kooning:  "Well, I always have a miserable time over it.  But it is getting better now."
Sylvester: "But what is the criterion by which you know you can stop the painting?"
De Kooning:  "Oh, I really...I just stop, you know.  I sometimes get rather hysterical and because of that I find sometimes a terrific picture." 

Have a great week, all of you dear blog readers.  You know I just couldn't keep blogging without you.