New Process Painting: "Ancestral Messengers"

Well I have started working on another painting that I am desperately hoping to finish before studio tour which begins on the 19th.  It's a big painting and there's really not a lot of time, but I'll give it the good old college try. There are so many things on the list to do before tour, but I am hopeful, and always am excited about it.

Here's the start of it. The painting  is 48" square. This represents two painted layers in the sky, using large brushes and these paints: cerulean blue, cobalt turquoise, cadmium yellow medium, quinacridone magenta, cadmium orange light, titanium white, and iridescent medium. It's certainly not done. The paint needs more richness. Blending with the stencil brush and using the iridescent medium make the sky luminous, which I really love, but the layering is what gives it life.

In the bottom part of the painting there are two layers of under-painting in deep reds before the rock formation even is begun. The colors in the rocks are Payne's gray, quinacridone magenta, burnt sienna, and titanium white. I know where the painting is going, so am looking at placement and under-painting at this stage.

As a painter I am very particular about certain things in my work. Color is one; balance is another; meaning and intent are probably the most important.  I use acrylic paint because it dries fast and holds its vividness. It's easy to go right back in with another layer of paint, to change, to intensify, to enhance. But one thing I am not all that particular about is brushes. Acrylics are deadly to brushes, and buying expensive ones seems futile. So I have LOTS of brushes of many sizes, many of which come from the hardware store. The stencil brushes and small ones come from the craft shop. But one downside to his practice is that the cheap brushes often lose their hairs into the painting. Rather than spend a frustrating amount of time removing them, I have learned a couple of ways to compensate. One is that I am a little picky about which of those hardware store brushes I buy. For instance, I buy a little better grade brush just like I would if I were going to paint the trim on my house...not top of the line, but pretty good. The second way is that I have just learned to ignore the brush hairs in the paint: c'est la vie! Many painters would be appalled by this. Oh well, they are my paintings, right?

I'll be sending the next installment in a couple of days. Meanwhile I will also finish cleaning my studio, so I can send photos of that too.