Tuesday, March 6, 2012

"Inconspicuous"



24x30x1.5", oil on canvas

This doesn't look like something I'd do, but I really like it! (And I'm not sure what to make of that.) Normally I paint in saturated colors, and it's literally hard for me to tone that down. This one is mostly cool and warm neutrals, with a little black and red. And white. It took courage to scribble in the black. It's very exposed -- right on the white canvas -- and I just hauled off and scribbled and didn't know how it would come out. You have to do that without reservation, because if you try to be careful, it will look like it. There are also some cool drips going down. I put a lot of marble dust in the paint, and it was almost like clay. Then, since it's water soluble oils, I sprayed it with water, and the heavy drips crawled down the surface. I like it when my work uses naturally occurring events. Things feel more organic that way.

I'm getting up the courage to paint bigger. More later.

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