Friday, November 21, 2014

A method of working


I recently found a painting spot that could provide many months of painting, in fact I feel I could probably paint this area for quite some time.
When I come to a new site, I don’t start painting right away. I look around and make some loose sketches and notations, thinking about composition, elements I might leave out or simplify. 


From experience I have found that I might discover something that may at first seem like it really works but then to find that it is not paintable; I have to move around and see how things look from different angles.
Once I have a few ideas figured out, I will start a small oil sketch, something from 8”x10”-12”x16”. I really am not to bothered about copying exactly what is in front of me. I may be interested in a certain color or form, a patch of light or an atmospheric effect. Not all my outdoor paintings would I consider finished pieces. They are color/form notations and along with some graphite sketches I hopefully have enough information to produce a larger painting back in the studio. 


The hard part is getting everything to come together and trying to maintain the freshness of the oil sketch -sometimes I pull it off and other times I may have to put the work aside and work on it another time. I am always learning and hopefully I always will.