Completed Painting: 'Untitled 1 (Constructed City)'

'Untitled 1 (Constructed City)', Acrylic & Collaged Screen Print on Panel,
30 cm x 30 cm, 2020

Having taken encouragement from the paper-based studies I discussed in my previous post, I'm pleased to have now completed this modest little painting.  As I mentioned, a certain  lack of finished work feels like it's become too much of 'a thing' over recent months, so there's an undeniable satisfaction in having something new to unveil.  It should also be recognised as the first actual stand-alone product from my 'Constructed City' project.  Should I be concerned that the large buildings still being constructed around Leicester are progressing noticeably faster than my own responses to them (even in lock-down conditions)?

Well, enough with the overly-critical self analysis.  The painting does distill some of my thoughts about the construction work (if only visually, at this stage), and I'm still happy enough to live with it, after a few days.  Clearly, it deviates very little from the studies which precede it, and the decision to carry on working at their limited scale was deliberate.  That caution is also reflected in the fairly methodical and painstaking manner of its execution, in which respect it also resembles some of my 'From The New School' paintings.  The tight, grid-based geometry and crisp(-ish) masked edges do seem appropriate to the subject matter, however, and if a highly-controlled, confidence-building approach is to be my way into this body of work - then so be it.

Of course, the small amount of consolidated progress this piece represents, and the possible pointers it contains to work that may follow, should be what really matter.  If the welcome by-product is something that could also hang on a wall - then life is sweet enough for now.