I was determined to document the progress of a painting started earlier this week. It turned out to be a magic painting (magic paintings practically paint themselves!) and, while these are extremely fun to paint, they don’t document too well as their direction is undeniably determined at the very beginning, before I realize their magical nature.
I started with a 20" x 20" cradled wood panel which I textured with gesso, tissue paper, gel medium and course pumice gel. I did not photograph it prior to laying down color because the texture wouldn't photograph well and it would likely be lost on all but myself. But this texturing yields a beautiful surface to paint on.
Below is after the first two initial painting sessions, about 20–30 minutes each and an hour apart, completed in a single evening. I laid down sections of translucent acrylic paint, overlapping in some areas and letting the texture on the board do its magical thing. The translucence creates very clean, bright versions of the colors due to the white under-painting/texturing. Covering the surface with color is fairly quick, but I do have to let it dry at least to the touch before adding the black and white areas. [This is where I could have photographed the initial color wash just to show some distinction of progress, but had no idea at the time that the next 30 minutes would seal the painting’s fate.] I added some black shapes here and there with some pieces of foam that I had cut out into organic shapes, also did some free-form brush strokes in black. Then I went over some areas with white and yellow, thinned with glazing medium which lets some of the black shapes show through. I love the coloration as it stands right now, so bright and cheery! But I know that this painting will evolve [They don’t have to evolve when they work at the get-go.] and maybe only a little of this color will remain as evidence that I did indeed use these bright colors. Or it may be that I’ll continue on with the brights, who knows? [Yup, I continued with the brights!.]
I worked on the painting again on Wednesday and I was surprised when I compared where I am now with the previous day’s image of it. It doesn’t look all that different even though Wednesday night’s painting session was a longer one, a full hour. I like the bright colors, so I’m trying to hang on to that. But it definitely needed some contrast, so I added the black parts. I stamped some more natural elements on it while scumbling up in some areas and covering some of the previous elements. Overall, it’s coming along nicely. I am pleased with it so far but more importantly, I am enjoying the process.
I started with a 20" x 20" cradled wood panel which I textured with gesso, tissue paper, gel medium and course pumice gel. I did not photograph it prior to laying down color because the texture wouldn't photograph well and it would likely be lost on all but myself. But this texturing yields a beautiful surface to paint on.
Below is after the first two initial painting sessions, about 20–30 minutes each and an hour apart, completed in a single evening. I laid down sections of translucent acrylic paint, overlapping in some areas and letting the texture on the board do its magical thing. The translucence creates very clean, bright versions of the colors due to the white under-painting/texturing. Covering the surface with color is fairly quick, but I do have to let it dry at least to the touch before adding the black and white areas. [This is where I could have photographed the initial color wash just to show some distinction of progress, but had no idea at the time that the next 30 minutes would seal the painting’s fate.] I added some black shapes here and there with some pieces of foam that I had cut out into organic shapes, also did some free-form brush strokes in black. Then I went over some areas with white and yellow, thinned with glazing medium which lets some of the black shapes show through. I love the coloration as it stands right now, so bright and cheery! But I know that this painting will evolve [They don’t have to evolve when they work at the get-go.] and maybe only a little of this color will remain as evidence that I did indeed use these bright colors. Or it may be that I’ll continue on with the brights, who knows? [Yup, I continued with the brights!.]
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| Progress after evening 1 |
I worked on the painting again on Wednesday and I was surprised when I compared where I am now with the previous day’s image of it. It doesn’t look all that different even though Wednesday night’s painting session was a longer one, a full hour. I like the bright colors, so I’m trying to hang on to that. But it definitely needed some contrast, so I added the black parts. I stamped some more natural elements on it while scumbling up in some areas and covering some of the previous elements. Overall, it’s coming along nicely. I am pleased with it so far but more importantly, I am enjoying the process.
Progress after evening 2
I worked on the painting last night for about an hour and again this morning doing the final touch-ups. I glazed some of the bright colors back in, added some more organic elements, incorporated a bit more white for contrast and even though it looks amazingly like the first image, it is refined and balanced. It is an Arte de Natura for sure! Below is the completed painting:
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| Arte de Natura II 20" x 20", acrylic on wood |
