Painting Demonstration

All of you who are interested in knowing how my paintings develop will be able to follow along with me as I post updates to my paintings in progress. My current painting was begun several days ago by texturing a gallery-wrapped 30 x 40 canvas. Using acrylic clear gesso, acrylic glass bead gel medium, acrylic fine pumice gel medium and acrylic iridescent medium I have spread the textures with a palette knife in random motions across the canvas. I have also used my trusty credit card with edges made by cutting with pinking shears. These random patterns suggest both motion (direction) and create unusual patterns within the format. All of this is random and done quickly without any planning!

My next step in this very creative process was to pour my new Golden High Flow acrylic colors across the canvas. As you can see I now have an abstract painting in full process that when dry I can work into however I choose. This process is very fast as I find moving color across the canvas works best using combinations of water sprayed in various locations, tipping the canvas to create runs, adding more paint or blotting out paint to my own personal satisfaction. There is no set formula for this – I call it creating by the seat of my pants! It’s filled with energy, little thought and vast amounts of intuition! I compare it to a four year old playing with paint the first time. I am careful not to overdo the paint spreading as that tends to make the work very dark and dirty looking. The fresher I can keep it, the better! I usually allow these colors to dry 4-8 hours or perhaps overnight before going on to the next step. I keep the canvas flat during this process.Find here san diego county roofing.

After drying, I place the canvas on my easel for viewing from a distance. It’s at this stage, often turning the canvas all four ways to determine what actions or horses I see, I choose the one that appeals most to me and take my “magic stick”, dip it into India ink and draw (freehand, no sketching or prep work) the horses I “see”. I can generally start to “feel” one or more horses interacting at this stage. Here you can see three horses I have found and drawn. Can you find 3? They are in the upper portion of the painting format. My next step in this creative process will be to paint out parts of the background surrounding the horses and begin composing the “story” of the painting that develops. As you may have guessed, “to be continued”! See you next time with progress to this painting!