I’ve been living away from St. John’s for going on five years now. It’s a three hour drive to get there. I often wonder what keeps me from taking the trip aside from chronic pain and lack of $$$$. It was really difficult having to move but I had no choice in the matter. I embraced moving because it was better than being angry and sad and and resentful. Now almost five years in I still miss it. I don’t live in that missing of it but if I am talking to someone and that is the theme of the conversation then I realise how much I do. I miss my artist friends, the arts community, my friends in general, access to physio, the pool, good variety of food etc. I live in a small coastal town now. I need to make the trip in order to get good photo references for my work. My files are pretty well used up now.
Recently I painted another Freshwater road piece. It’s oil on a 30 by 30″ cradled board.
Below is the process for my last piece.
After sketching out my image I lay down blocks of colours in acrylic. All artists have their own way of doing this. I like using acrylic because it dries fast and mistakes can be fixed easily.
I’ve added my darks/shadows and worked in a sky of sorts. I actually like this sky as it is. It often happens when laying in colours that the piece can have a nice effect just as is. All of this process is stored in memory for possible future ideas.
I’ve worked the sky in, still in acrylic. When I am working, the part where I switch to oils is always a sticking point. I know once I head down that road I can’t go back. I have wiped away many an oil sky with turps over the years. Even after spending three hours working on it. There is a car missing that is in the final piece and I am still deciding on putting it in or not.
So now I am using oils and decided yes to the car to the left. I am not settled on the figure yet. Leave it in? Take it out? Hmmm..
I use the burnt sienna in the underpainting because I love how it comes through the final paint. It gives it a sort of glow.
And here is the final piece. I did leave out the figure in the end. It’s a special time of day that excites me in my work. I took the photo for this. It is right around the corner from where I lived.
Thanks for dropping by.
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