"Mr. P. Physh" 2010 oil on board 18 x 18 in.

Well hello there!

Can you tell I’m on holiday? Mr. P. Physh is, I think, finito. I considered dating it 2009-10, but decided a complete “2010″ was much more optimistic. I’m hoping to fit him in at the Wilson 96, which will be having a group show in January.

Contemplating my next move, which will consider some more animalia. Speaking of which, have you seen paintings by this guy? He’s on my list of favourite and EXTREMELY talented painters.

Mr. P. Physh, work in progress, oil on board, © Therese Neelands

I started this puffer fish a year ago and gave up on him because a) it wasn’t working out and b) I thought it was kind of dumb. And then recently I was organizing my studio and found him and gave him a good dusting and he made me smile, so I banged it on the easel and started all over again.

He’s STILL not done yet, and probably won’t be until maybe I’m 90. He was supposed to be part of a series of ridiculous animal portraits with witty names…ugh…

Mr. P. Physh, detail

For a few weeks now, I’ve been working on a painting of my puffer fish that I sketched awhile ago. Since I started my new job at the gallery, I’ve been toiling away at it on my weekends, however, it’s been giving me an enormous amount of difficulty and has been no fun at all.

Today, I decided to stop being so finicky about the whole thing, and started to play. I forgot about trying to make the fish a fish, and instead concentrated on the feel of the paint and the oil, and on capturing the truly ridiculous portrait of Mr. P. Physh who now floats in a sea of fleshy pink. This makes him more monstrous and hilarious than ever.

Finally, I like where it’s going.

More updates on this soon.

“To be absolutely free to create without fear or formula heartens the soul and opens a path to the joy of living”

Cesar Mannique

(I found this quote from one of my favourite blogs ever: Gooseflesh )