Reunited

I'm about to begin my next painting. The canvas is a stark white, which makes me nervous. I am anxious to put a mark, a blot of color, almost anything, as a respite from the bottomless white. I have the concept in my mind, next I will do a sketch, work out the composition and values. That's the rigorous part, the grunt work, if you will. Experience is teaching me to take this as a dose of medicine, a necessary unpleasantness you have to go through to get to the pleasantness. The reward will be the moment my loaded brush caresses the canvas, like lovers reunited after a long absence.