Discussion of current works on the easel.
Small paintings (this painting is 30″ x 40″) always take longer than I expect. Starting, I intend to keep it simple, but I’m always discovering more things to explore or problems to solve. I’m only successful with finishing studies quickly when I restrict myself to monochrome. Who knows when this painting will be done. I…
Down on Prospect Avenue? Prospect Avenue? Prospect? Down on Prospect? The latter is the name I plan to stick with. This painting is almost finished. My habit is to put away an almost-done painting and leave it alone until I can see it with fresh eyes. One or two more sessions should be enough. …
Keep Talking is scudding along; still unfinished, obviously, but it’s moving closer. In this photo, Keep Talking, which is 36″ x 48″, shares the easel with a canvas I recently prepared. You can see the grid on the paper fixed to the canvas. When the drawing is finished, I’ll transfer it to the canvas with…
I am happy with my painting medium, as I’ve written before, but I also like to kick the tires of new offerings. I wrote about my use of Grove’s Cole’s medium several times, noting how that the more I used it, the less I liked it. Eventually, I put it aside, storing it in the…
For today’s session with Lunch Alone, in addition to my usual medium, I used ‘flavored’ turpentine for my solvent: turpentine with some homemade drying oil, plus drops of Courtrai siccative. Readers of my blog know I post a lot about mediums and other arcane elements of art making. If you want to start experimenting with mediums,…
I am keeping everything simple and direct with The Woman in the Red Pants. Overworking can be death to a painting. On the other hand, I have a horror of the blast, fire, shoot, throw, and fling army of ala prima painters who’ve taken over the Art World, at least the ‘figurative’ part of it. …
Here is my first session with Keep Talking. Today, I just threw paint onto the canvas without worrying overmuch about details, although I was–as always–careful to preserve the drawing. It’s risky to share such raw, unfinished paintings but I think there’s enough that you can get the gist of it. Keep Talking is 36″ x…
How do you know when a painting is finished?Many artists have trouble determining when a painting is finished. It can be excruciatingly painful to let a painting go, especially after you worked on it for a long time. If like me, you focus on problems as you work, it can be easy to fixate on…