Ultimate fighter I final... Literally changing direction with this piece!

After a  few surgical interventions, I decided to present this piece sideways... as a means to leverage any abstraction patterns emanating from interlocking body parts and to create a disbalance...

I think I will call this one "toss up"...

Note to self: "I need to get back to my usual minimal prep work for raw cotton canvas. Using too many color passes to compensate for an excessively absorbent surface took a toll on freshness."

Ultimate fighter I - close to final.. Still assessing technicalities: not all canvases are created equal!

I've been working by one hour spurt with this painting, literally. I decided to go with no "minimal" prep work (diluted acrylic medium) on regular raw cotton canvas...

Although I don't mind the result, I'm after the same surface quality as the one I obtained with my last series (large scale portraits). I need to varnish this one to determine how I will proceed with this new series. Thus far, I'm satisfied with results achieved with 50%cotton/50% linen raw canvas (light grey background).

Ultimate fighter I - step IV... Committing to a color scheme!

 The vision I had for this color pass didn't quite materialize but I seem to be getting closer to where I want to be, i.e., "colorful monochromatic" ...

 ... I used carbon black instead of turquoise phtalo by mistake... but this could be a blessing in disguise since I want my darks to be pitch black in strategic areas! I need more knife work to recuperate some color nuances and textures before I call it quit. I shied away from the idea of going more abstract since this composition is all lines and dark masses.

Ultimate fighter I - step III... Adapting to the new canvas!

Without realizing it, I bought a roll of raw canvas with a tighter weave than what I normally use. In retrospect, this may be to my advantage considering my staining technique and my use of transparent colors for the most part. I slapped a couple of color passes this morning trying to assess the situation fast...

.... and found out that I'm probably in business with this one! With the last pass, I'd like to introduce more color variation and a certain degree of imprecision/abstraction.

Ultimate fighter I - step II... Roughing it out before getting serious!

With barely an hour at my disposal today, I took the opportunity to restate the underpainting using darker values in preparation for color passages...

 As I did with flamenco dancers, I want to use a full gamete of colors and introduce even more variations in my textures...

This is a 36 X 36 canvas.

Ultimate fighter I - step I... Fishing for an additional painting stream with more testosterone!

Still exploring possibilities for new painting streams next year, I decided to push my luck in the sports area with the ultimate fighter as potential subject...

 I want to exploit the abstract patterns of interlocking body parts! I changed my brand of canvas... so this is experimental in more than one way!

Behind women's eyes X final... Getting closer to where I want to be!

This one ended up being pretty much the sum total of every techniques that I've learned or developed over the last three years...

I feel a bit more secured about working on a new series, not parting dramatically from my usual process but leveraging my current knowledge and all the tools at my disposal to create even more personal works in 2011. In final analysis, my recent experiments created a multiplicity of choices, which I played against each other to finally branch out in a direction that seems to offer the most potential for me moving forward.