I finished this well over a week ago, but wasn't sure of the sky. I finally moved it out of my studio onto a sunlit wall and I like it... I think. To be honest, I'm often unsure if I stop because something is finished, or if because I have other ideas screaming in my … Continue reading A Day at the Beach – Completed, I think…
A Day at the Beach – Solving an overworked Sky
The burnt umber outlines really helped me see a new direction for the sky. I wanted the figure to stand as the main focus of the composition, so I needed a muted background to go against the skin. I was not happy with the b blues I had on it previously and felt strongly that … Continue reading A Day at the Beach – Solving an overworked Sky
A Day at the Beach – Laying in some colours
It feels like much longer than a week since I added colours to the initial layers as seen in the previous posting. I had started with bolder colours and felt that would be where it was meant to go, but it really wasn't. I started in on adding textures and movement in the sky behind … Continue reading A Day at the Beach – Laying in some colours
A Day At The Beach – First layers of paint
It is amazingly satisfying to pile on paint with a pallet knife... simultaneously obliterating the texture of the underpainting and creating a whole new surface texture. I also feel like the paint is more alive when it's very thick. I want to continue painting and adding colours, wet on wet, and see the messy magic … Continue reading A Day At The Beach – First layers of paint
Starting something new – A Day at the Beach
For starters, this is an overpainted canvas, gessoed with recycled grey house paint... And I've been staring at it for weeks!!! My research has been on David Park, Richard Deibenkorn, and Fernando Botero. Not sure why Botero became a focus, but his work has been showing up on so many of my works, that I … Continue reading Starting something new – A Day at the Beach
The Bathers – Complete – Sorry for the delay
I've been a little preoccupied with report cards and year-end curricula for my first graders, as well as my daughter's high school graduation... add to that life keeps me busy with many other things. So, I haven't taken the time to try and escape the painter's block I felt. I moved the painting around the … Continue reading The Bathers – Complete – Sorry for the delay
A little good news… about art!!!
For art nerds and artists alike we sometimes struggle with the reasons we paint what we paint... well, it can have something to do with where we are painting... at least it appears that way for Vincent Van Gogh... http://www.goodnewsnetwork.org/van-gogh-painted-his-last-masterpiece-here-discovery/
The Bathers – Momentary Creative Block Caused by Distractions
I've been wrapping up academic papers and struggling to stay motivated to do them. Usually, painting is my distraction from the papers, but these particular art history essays are really not too interesting to me. I added a few little touches to the painting since the last update... mainly shadows. I feel what's left is … Continue reading The Bathers – Momentary Creative Block Caused by Distractions
The Bathers – The colours are starting to sing
I think I found the music needed to make this work... Hothouse Flowers on Spotify... I forgot how much I loved the live recording style they had... a lot like The Doors. As mentioned yesterday (I think), I decided on using titanium white as a base to add the girl's bathing suit. Then I just … Continue reading The Bathers – The colours are starting to sing
The Bathers – A Few Steps in This Direction, Maybe….
I had a few minutes before supper (to procrastinate from doing my research paper) and wanted to get the white out of this composition. I felt it was blocking some crucial decision I needed to make... I filled in some unbleached titanium as an undertone for the skin and started to see a little more … Continue reading The Bathers – A Few Steps in This Direction, Maybe….
The New Renaissance Mindset 