Racing start IV - close to final step... I've met my match with this one!

Alla prima painting with thick paint and a palette knife is difficult for me... but it's something that I need to explore for my personal growth... although I feel it's not gonna be my ultimate style... I like the tactile aspect of the brush!

I will give it another pass before calling it quit! My challenge is to make large uninteresting surfaces... interesting! The guy in the back became a goner in a split second just before taking the picture! Some more adjustments in the color scheme are called for... got to get rid of that "outlined figure" look and warm up the whole color scheme, especially the glacial background!

In the end, the struggle may give this painting an unanticipated character (I'm an optimist)!

Racing start III - step III... there was more paint on my hands than on canvas!

After a few "false starts" (the previous runner looked boxed in!), having nothing to lose, I went at it with really thick paint generating a fair amount of textures on this 3rd pass.

A second runner was left totally obliterated (I can handle that!)... merely a default maneuver to create the illusion of a race! It's time to go for refinements in both color and movement... right now everything is disjointed, not believable...

Note to self: "I can see two styles emanating from my previous experiments, the thin style using the brush and the thick style using the painting knife... I don't want to choose... I want to do both!"

Racing start III - step II... time for big decisions... it's not the first time that I lose a runner!

In choosing a color scheme, I decided to go for a red dominance and complementary blues. As for the composition, I felt an urgent need to stamp out the guy in the back... his lines not being as "streamlined" as those from the runner in the foreground. Iwas afraid the final composition in color would look awkward...

This mucking around is outside my usual process... it will be interesting to see if I can pull this one off! For one thing, I need to improve the runner's proportions by raising his lower body one floor up! I'm not ready to throw the towel yet...

Racing start III- step I... jumping off a cliff without a "chute"... I hope there is a canopy of trees!

I've been fascinated by the intricate network of diagonals from this composition for a while... the only problem is that the reference TV screen shot is extremely poor. I decided to take the plunge anyway using photos of myself to correct anatomical flaws derived from missing information...

With such poor information, there is an opportunity to go the "expressionist route" wholeheartedly!

End of race two - step V... another one bites the dust... but I'm a bit stiff with stiff paint!

I managed to pull this one off through some improvisation along the way...

I realized I need to get myself some stiff brushes to spread stiff paint around... at least at the early stage. Right now I favour cheap beveled nylon watercolor brushes. Although the surface is not as textured throughout as I anticipated, it does have that beaten look, which I like! I need to get used to applying thick paint and letting it sit there untouched...

One thing I realized is that there is an advantage in using gloss acrylic gel for brighter colors. Matte gel whitens colors a little. In the end, I can always go for a satin (waxy) finish as usual.

In retrospect, there was nothing wrong in dealing with textures separately from the painting process: I won an honorable mention with such a painting. I'm basically making an attempt to do both at the same time, as most conventional painters do! As usual, my focus on results will lead me to use all methods concurrently... sort of my "anything goes if results are there" kind of philosophy!

End of race two - step IV... walking the tight rope!

I gave it a go this morning to follow up on my previous move on the background color... and decided to tip the scale towards blue to counter the sienna. I also timidly experimented with accents of lime green and purple to see what effect that would have... I feel like I'm walking on a tight rope!

Now, I need to address the figure to stamp out that "cut out" look... that general feeling that the runner doesn't yet belong to his environment! For that, I cooled down the whole color scheme to reduce the sienna, and darkened the background...

I think I'm in business... I've got the look I'm after... that of a 200 pound gorilla that commands respect! One more pass with restraint should do it... to get rid of the patchy look. At some point in time, I was not sure if I was coming or going... but with fast painting, there is no time to worry, one action leading to another...

End of race two - step III... still using thick paint, which is way outside my usual path!

Following my plan, I started with thicker paint than usual with the hope of building more textures before going for refinements. I'm not sure where this will lead me! I'm used to build things more gradually. I worry when I don't see the grain of the canvas!

After washing and cleaning up the car in an attempt to score brownie points with the muse while she is at work (and while I maintain an artistic life style at home!)... I looked at my Munsell color scale and slapped a couple of blues on the background before calling it a day... the anemic background was driving me nuts! It will still require some work but at least the figure is coming out in a bold fashion...

Now I'm ready for some serious work. I hope that this one, which started like a lion... will not finish like a mouse!