Art Plunge

THE FINISHED PIECE! "Sometimes You Feel Small part 2" 36" x 48" acrylic/krylon on gallery wrapped canvas ...will be on view at RISING GALLERY on June 1! I started this thing on April 15th and finished it respectively on May 14th. Thats about a months worth of work on this thing, snagging a few hours a day or whole days sometimes to work on it. This was my first piece I fully documented publicly through it's various stages and also the first piece I used a different approach to. That being for one....the krylon spray in the background and also the very careful layering from back to front...all the elements in my pieces are usually just placed on as my brain sees fit, whether in the foreground or background.  It's been an interesting process and a few people were watching diligently and offering supportive words- thanks friends! Let's have the whole story now from start to finish: This thing is 36" x 48...

This is the latest progression on this piece. I've added the green branch shapes and the pale blue circles. This was the layer just before I'm ready to start adding in some darker features and weight into the mix. I'm ready to crack open one of my favorite colors: Paynes Grey and start heading into the browns. Yeah, my house is a mess but I'm on a roll and I can't be bothered with dishes just yet.... (Soundtrack while working on this piece: Swervedriver, June of 44 and some 60's mixes)

No doubt when you are doing something you absolutely love it doesn't feel like work at all. Whatever that may be... gardening, cooking, reading, writing and in my case....painting. In fact when I start painting and I'm in my zone I kind of equate it to being on drugs. It's like an addiction and I find it really hard to stop for the day. It's a lot like being in love. You miss it while you are away. You think about it and anticipate returning to it. Or maybe I'm crazy. I can only say in my defense that I have not been able to paint something for myself for a VERY VERY long time. I am coming off a year of having to hustle everyone elses commissions and deadlines and benefit pieces and nothing was done for little ol' me. POOR ME! Just kidding, sorta...but this is why I am feeling pretty euphoric that I carved out a little time this weekend to work on my newest and biggest piece. For me. Mine. MINES!!!! And to prove just how smitten and retardo I am about pai...

Fourth Layer: Blue branch shapes Third Layer: Soft blue grey organic shapes and pale green color fields Second Layer: Spray painted blue and pale green forms First Layer: Double coated flat color primer That is just a brief visual rundown of where the painting is and has been so far. I'm at the stage where I'm adding in some bolder branch shapes that intersect, overlap and dodge behind other forms. In case anyone was wondering about my process...no, I don't sketch these out beforehand. In fact as I get to each form- thats when I reach for a pencil and draw out the form to be, right before it gets painted. I work intuitively on my composition, breaking up shapes and space. Sometimes mistakes make happy discoveries. For instance my paintbrush was fully loaded with paint and bumped into the canvas accidentally where I had not planned it and I felt like I had to make a plan B or escape route to fix my mistake. I ended up really liking what the form was doing....

The weather this Easter weekend has been amazing. I made sure to spend a little time out in it yesterday while putting on the second layer of my new piece. Usually I work backwards. I lay in the foreground elements and then start sticking stuff in the background. It is a LOT MORE TIME CONSUMING to to do it that way. You have to watch your brush and lines and not paint over things that are already finished. So on this piece I'm trying an experiment and working background to foreground as much as possible and I'm going to document the whole beautiful disaster in phases. If you aren't familiar with my style it's a bit like this. So the second layer I added was another new experiment I spray painted on my canvas! OMG! Slap my hand! TABOO! Not really, we artists can do whatever the hell we want. :) I have basically broken up the space with two different colors of spray paint. Now I will begin some more background fields in acrylic paint. Right now it just remind...