Winter seed heads. Image is a composite memory of increasingly remote snow covered fields. Medium is water-soluble oils on a pre-used 9.5×7″ canvas. An interesting opportunity factor here was that I’d obliterated the original painting with white acrylic gesso and this seemed to lift a little with the new layers. This meant I could pull patches of paint out of the canvas, revealing some of the original. Each opened patch has a tiny textural edge around it now. [this text as per Instagram post].

I’m working my way through a small gallery of old paintings on canvas that I’m more than willing to sacrifice in the interests of progress with this painting malarkey. And as usual, there was a last thing, which I’m beginning to call my Columbo effect – you know, when the crim thinks he’s got away with it and Columbo in his scruffy mac says, just one more thing … then that’s the criminal boxed and carted off? – for me it’s knowing that while things seem to be working ok, there’s nothing remarkable going on until suddenly, like the exact form of words in a piece of writing, the one more thing becomes apparent.

I never used to have those. That’s because I knew absolutely b-all about painting. Darn it, OCA, you’ll make a painter of me yet.

© Suzanne Conboy-Hill 2025