I need four large square canvases –stretched and not canvas boards. With gallery edges. I need them now. OK, I don’t need them right this minute, and probably not for a few weeks, but I will need them at some point soonish.

I also need an overhead photo of a slender nude woman curled up in a fetal position on a bed. Actually, I need an overhead photo of myself on my own bed, nude (of course). My need for this is a little more immediate. I want to start doing figure studies this weekend.

Last year was the year of spontaneous art. No planning. No real forethought. No sketches. No underpainting. When I felt like painting, I did. If I didn’t feel like painting, I didn’t. The end result of this year-long experiment has been fewer paintings finished, and I think every one of them is a great contender for the Worst Art I’ve Made award. Obviously, this means that long after I am dead, someone somewhere will be droning on about the significance of this one year period and claiming they are the best work of my entire art career.

I haven’t entirely decided what this year’s grand art experiment will be, but I suspect the word I would use to sum it up is LARGE. It’s also entirely possible I will be working in oils, though that does come with some difficulties. I’m getting sick of acrylics, I think.

Oh. I just had another idea to go with the idea I had that prompted this post. I wanted stretched and shaped canvases with gallery edges. That means I’ll have to build and stretch them myself. Ugh. I’ll have to ask my resident engineer/architect/master builder for guidance. I can stretch the canvas myself, but building a canvas with no corners might be a little beyond my building abilities. OK, it’s way beyond my building abilities. You’ve seen the things I build for my garden haven’t you? I wouldn’t let me build anything that needs to last longer than three months. Eh, probably too much work that would end in unsatisfactory results. I’ll look into it, but four large square canvases would be just fine too.

I should probably join Lin in bed now. We need to get up at 3 am to get him off to Houston for a ridiculously early meeting. Also, I’m doing lunch with a friend tomorrow. Good thing I suggested a late lunch, because there’s no way I will fall asleep until at least midnight or later, and having just found out I need to be up two and a half hours earlier than I am used to means I won’t get any sleep at all, until I get Lin out the door and go back to bed until moments before my lunch date.

And if I am not too fatigued after lunch, I think I’ll start doing sketches for the first painting of 2010, because I am eager to get started on it. I might even let people see this one.