I am trying to think about what in the world people would want to know about my painting process and I’m coming up blank. That’s kind of the way I feel if I’ve been out of the studio for a while for whatever reason.
Maybe I should just ‘do it’ as the saying goes. That’s what I do while painting anyway. It is just paint, canvas, wood, paper and it’s not a catastrophe if it all goes south.
SO, this is how I started on a 40 x 40-inch canvas with acrylic early this week. Just a little mixture of unbleached titanium and nothing else that I remember. I am not toning the canvas or texturizing this canvas as I have done for so many years.
Since my last painting of 2019 was in some kind of earthy tones with blue, I seem to be continuing in the same color groove. I made a lot of gestural marks with willow charcoal and then laid in more sienna and ochre mixtures to just get something on this stark white canvas.I wanted to lightly (or not) brush over the lines, or at least some of them to keep the charcoal from going all over the place. I chose Paynes Gray and a little blue added to some strokes.The light on this image is better than the previous one. I am also adding more paint, transparent red oxide, mixtures of raw sienna, yellow ochre, neutral gray Cad. orange and smaller variations from the palette of all my usual pigments next to the mixing area. I just want to cover the canvas with paint, marks, and gestures. Then I will have to edit out what does not work.I decided to skip one image and just get down to the ‘near-final’ image. This is when it gets tricky. I have to look at this, come back tomorrow and look some more and either work 30 minutes or two more days. Those final touches can either make the painting or totally wipe it out to have to be re-painted. I haven’t changed much in the composition overall. Why is this better than the earlier image? Because the surface quality and edge treatment is more defined and the color in that central blue area is much better in variety without really changing the overall value of the shape.
Oh yes… I decided Between Seasons 3 would be a good title for this one.
Thanks for reading my blog. I feel so out of practice but I want to make the effort again for 2020. If you have questions, please let me know. I love the interaction with others about my work.
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