Design

 

Another new one;  I snapped a few pictures during the drawing process so you could see me working with an idea.   Something I tell young students, a painting isn't started until all the white (in this case, pink)  is covered. I mainly tell them this to give them something very simple to achieve in the first class to break through the intimidation of starting a painting.   I don't ask for quality, just coverage.

I often use a toned ground for the same purpose and to see value relationships more clearly, yet I become just as reluctant to see this new clean surface disappear. Drawing on canvas is so beautiful in itself that it could be tempting to just leave it as it is.  When the ground is covered, that energy of a start does die a little, but it leads to a new, quieter, level of process. 

That Monday Feeling

I'm always quite excited to pull an abandoned painting out of the pile, so if it a less-than joyous image, it is a joyous occasion.  Not content to simply have five canvas portraits in the works, I had to pull out a panel to have a nocturne to tinker with. 

Sunday to Sunday

Here's what happens in a week to over the start I shared last Sunday. I liked the initial composition enough not to push the figure around so much as I tend to do with my usual starts, so the composition and image look pretty much the same.   What is harder to notice is the layers being built over what was a very thin oil sketch that makes it into a painting.   My type of painting is almost low relief; building the surface and projecting the forms feels like making sculpture.  Still, the image is evolving in minor ways, it is a bit more male now from its somewhat androgynous start, and the owl is certainly fluffier.  

Goat 3,4

 

The changes are getting more subtle in the middle stages, might be a bit boring from a new image perspective, but this is where all the work gets done. To keep it just a little interesting, here are different sessions that I have not posted.

For Want of a Cat

When I last left off with this painting, what I'd always imagined to be a small cat was starting to look a lot like a Gila Monster.   I was actually imagining it in closer proximity to the figure's neck.  With all the nurturing going on the rabbit painting, I started pushing this painting in a different direction.   I'm now imagining a more the cat far more upright and confrontational, and a bit larger, with its mouth open.  Alas, I've hit the limits of my imagination since I lack a cat.   Oh yes, and that troublesome window has been removed and we now find ourselves outside?

Rabbit

The rabbit has arrived! Somewhere, someone might recognize their bunny, if they can see through all the violet.  (I nicked it's head from a photo on the internet.)  As you could see in the previous post on this one, the figure has been wholly imagined, but I'm starting to recognize a bit of self-portrait.   Even though I haven't painted myself from life in years, I think most artists use themselves as the default for idealized forms.

Mime Five

I've been thinking about the Mimes Studio especially of late because they are just finishing fours days of workshops and presentations.  Very sorry to miss it, and I've been wishing them the best.  Sounds like it is going very well.  To commemorate, I've begun work on a new mime drawing. If you're counting, the fourth one is still rolled up somewhere waiting to be picked up.  Better images may be a long time coming, so this composite will have to give you an idea of what the straight-on looks like: