Reusing a drawing

I started a small oil yesterday. I transferred the drawing, or cartoon, to the canvas as I had earlier to a sheet of watercolor paper. You can see from the photo that both formats are of the same size. The watercolor paper is pretty good. I might finish it with watercolors, gauche, or a … Continue reading →

Scale again

Yesterday, I wrote about how scale affects paint handling. A figure on a 6-inch canvas is painted differently than the same figure on a 6-foot canvas. Pretty straightforward but a lot of artists get stuck in a 'one size fits all' approach. There's also another way that scale determines my … Continue reading →

Proper scale

Scale plays a big part in how I handle a painting. By scale I mean the size of the canvas. A single figure on a 6-foot canvas requires a different treatment than the same figure would on a 6-inch canvas. I didn't understand that early in my career, but as I worked on paintings up and down the … Continue reading →

Why stop?

Sometimes when I draw, like in the oil sketch in the middle of this photo, I grab hold of things quickly and stop before the moment passes. Other times, I enjoy what I'm doing so much I don't want to stop. Looking, seeing, and knowing on and on. SO WHY STOP? There is no end to seeing and … Continue reading →

Starting another painting

The drawing is transferred to the canvas for the new painting I'm calling The Entertainer. The Entertainer is 40" x 50". I applied the warm ground with a rag. I was careful to keep the ground thin so that the drawing shows through, as you can see in the photo. There are 12 figures in the space. … Continue reading →