After a shopping spree for art supplies, I spent about 30 minutes establishing some color scheme for this painting...
Last summer I bought a book featuring a retrospective of Molly Lamb Bobak's art as I was mesmerized by her use of oranges and purples along with accents of dark blues and greens... so there's a bit of inspiration from her here. Recently, I've decided to establish a dialog with colors and the evolving painting as opposed to plan things out to death. I'll soon find out if this is a one-way or a two-way communication! I'm notorious for doing all the talking, a marketing thing... that can be to my detriment!
In terms of experimentation, I tried a removable oil-based matte varnish from Liquitex (over an isolation coat of acrylic gloss medium & varnish) and liked the results: definitely matte but with a sparkle, and the texture of the canvas is retained. I will try this recipe on a highly textured surface. Breathing the vapors of an oil-based varnish was a killer though... so I need to find a way to ventilate more effectively. Up to now, I have favoured the waxy finish provided by a coat of permanent acrylic gloss varnish (over an isolation coat of soft gel mixed with water) followed by a coat of permanent acrylic satin varnish. In the end, I'm looking for better color enhancement and a minimum of fogging (a potential problem with water-based varnishes, especially on highly textured surfaces).
Note to self: I think super loose is the way to go with smaller formats (20 X 20 for this canvas) since at 3 feet, the observer is already far enough to imagine all the details!
... the priority, suddenly, becomes the image, as opposed to just making brush marks, using the image merely as a trigger. In the illustrator's turf, I feel diminished, reduced to my simplest expression, yet I persist... in an attempt to learn something... hopefully!
... for better of for worst! I'm bound to experience new lows as opposed to new highs! At any rate, if I can pull this one off, it will have character... the kind produced to the tune of one thousand fast failures!
Looks like I'm not the only one facing the wrong way...
Spring has lost its way! A saving grace: as I was getting ready to spray an insecticide on my aphid-infested shrubs... I decided to let the snow take care of this problem!
I wanted to try a different color scheme for this one, and as I applied color...
...I was confronted once again with my usual demons: how do I fill up all that space? For one thing, I need to make everything bigger! When I apply a first coat (especially for small paintings), everything shrinks... it seems... as if I were only interested in lines...
In the end, I decided to introduce more color in the Yoga costume... accents to complement the red...
I don't expect every painting to be a master piece (I don't think I ever produced one)... on the other hand, I try to give everything I have... within the limits of my artistic model. Ironically, it can take me longer to do a small painting! I don't mind this one, but along the way, it parted fairly dramatically from my initial vision.
I need to go with the flow... as I apply thicker paint and keep adding color nuances.
Last summer I bought a book featuring a retrospective of Molly Lamb Bobak's art as I was mesmerized by her use of oranges and purples along with accents of dark blues and greens... so there's a bit of inspiration from her here. Recently, I've decided to establish a dialog with colors and the evolving painting as opposed to plan things out to death. I'll soon find out if this is a one-way or a two-way communication! I'm notorious for doing all the talking, a marketing thing... that can be to my detriment!