I worked the past several days on finishing the under-painting of The Woman in Purple Boots. The Woman in Purple Boots is 40″ x 50″ which is a nice size and format. I’m thinking of preparing a batch of canvases that size, say 4-5. I often prepare batches of the same size. Last year, I prepared 7-8 canvases that are all 44″ x 60″. I also intend to prepare a batch of 36″ x 48″ canvases this spring.
The unfinished ‘Woman in Purple Boots’ on the easel
The figures are taken from three photographs that I combined into the design. The photographs are from a trip to New York last summer. I have several photographs taken around the same time and I plan another painting with several of the same figures but in different positions and attitudes.
The canvas for The Woman in Purple Boots had another drawing on it–an incomplete drawing that I abandoned. It’s unusual for me to abandon a large painting. I usually get the design worked out before I start on the canvas. But when I do abandon a large painting, it’s in the drawing stage. I’ve only abandoned a large work once after actually starting to paint, and that was because of a poorly prepared canvas.
In this case, I knew the drawing had some issues but I thought they were minor and could be worked out as I went along. It turned out the issues weren’t minor and to fix them meant reworking a large part of the drawing. I eventually determined that the design wasn’t strong enough, so I abandoned it. I’m much happier with the new design.