Discussion of current works on the easel.
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 approach–figure scale. The main figures…
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…
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…
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…
…but it’s all wrong… So the song goes. This is a painting that I turned to the wall for a long time as I tried to work out what was bothering me about it. I do this frequently when I hit a wall. I put the painting aside and think about it. Sometimes solutions come…
In recent days I’ve spent time preparing new paintings, that is, drawing and finishing designs. However, I did spend some time actually painting. I had several sessions with my most recent painting, Lens. Most objects come alive under the brush by using the complement of its primary color in the half-tones–the areas between the higher…
After several days of drawing, I spent the last 5-6 days working on The Lens (unfinished painting on the easel). I started with the over-painting today before running out of gas. My main palette, the rectangular one on the white cart, contains my colors and mixtures: cool and warm grays, and values of burnt sienna.…
Today I had several more sessions on Directions. I posted a video of me working on some of the small, background figures.