Starting in on "N": a peek behind the scenes

- February 15, 2026

Well, after finishing "M", I took a nice long break from painting and mainly did jigsaw puzzles while we were snowed in, then I stretched a canvas for "N" and for my new copy at the National Gallery (read about that here). I've been thinking about and collecting the N objects for weeks, and have set them all on the table. Today I started to seriously look at them and arrange them into a possible composition.

I have collected Necco wafers, nutmeg, a Neanthe Bella palm (there aren't many plants that start with N! I wanted Narcissus, but the garden center said they wouldn't be selling them until April. They helped me find this pretty little Neanthe Bella palm, also known as a parlor palm), an Alice Neel book, Ninja nesting dolls, a napkin, a Nacre (mother-of-pearl) necklace, a notebook, a nine ball, a navel orange (I'm using a plastic orange as a stand-in but I will buy a real navel orange when I'm ready to start the painting), a necktie, and a navy cloth. I have this strange wooden shelf thing (that I think was part of a cabinet) that I'm calling a Nook and I arranged the nesting ninjas in it. I hammered a nail into the top of the nook and hung the necklace from it. I'm going to tear open the neccos and scatter a few around. I'm going to repot the neanthe bella palm into a nicer pot (I can't think of a color that starts with N, unless a want a neon something... so we'll just ignore the pot.)

Now I'm looking at this tentative setup and playing with the lighting. The necktie was a late addition to my list, because the ninjas inside the nook was just too much dark, so I draped the bright colored necktie over the back of the nook.

Here's are a few photos I took along the way. The changes are very subtle. I'm going to come back and look at the setup tomorrow with fresh eyes and play with it some more, maybe rearranging it entirely. If I realize I liked it better in an earlier arrangement, I can scroll through the photos to remind myself. My canvas is all ready (24" x 24", stretched and covered with three coats of acrylic gesso and a final coat of polymer matte medium).

I like to work this way, arranging and rearranging the objects until the setup looks like a painting to me. After all this, I don't need to do any sketches or studies, but can just start painting.